


You've got my Heart/You've got my Soul

by SaraiVe



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-12 03:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13538415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraiVe/pseuds/SaraiVe
Summary: Daryl and Beth meet while at the Greene farm and she manages to work her way under his defenses.  Mostly told from their perspectives, but occasionally slips into Rick or Lori's heads for some outside information.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-post of a story that I accidentally deleted a few months ago when I was really far too exhausted and blurry-eyed to be trying to edit, in case you think it looks familiar. My apologies to anyone who missed it! It's still only the chapters that were up before because I don't think that the others are quite there yet, though the next one is (hopefully) getting closer.

He was awakened by soft noises and was up and soundlessly out of his tent almost without thought.  He’d pitched his tent away from the house under a large oak near the edge of a pasture.  With the moonlight he could see one of the horses a few yards away, the younger Greene girl next to it.  The girl was speaking quietly to the animal, stroking it and running her fingers through its mane.  She giggled softly as the horse nosed at her, knocking her back a step.  He could see another horse approaching and watched her caress and talk to that animal as well when it got close enough.  Occasionally one animal or the other would nudge her and knock her back a step or two and he felt apprehensive because the horses were so much larger than the girl, but didn’t try to intervene as she seemed comfortable.  Although he’d ridden before, he’d never been that crazy about horses because of their size and power.

 

He watched as she stepped back and pulled something from her pocket and he heard a small snap and saw her hold out a hand to each animal, then her soft voice again, “Come on, girls. You want some carrot?”  The horses nuzzled her hands, then he could hear them crunching.  “Sweet girls…you haven’t had any treats recently, have you?  I’m sorry.  Come on, one more.”  He watched as she repeated the process with a second carrot.  The horses stayed close to her and she continued to murmur affectionate little drabbles and stroke them softly.

 

Enchanted by the picture before him, he was suddenly reminded of a picture in an old storybook that he’d seen as a child.  He’d never read the book, so he didn’t know the story, but the picture of the beautiful blonde princess and unicorn had apparently stuck with him.  He shook his head, feeling like an asshole.  The horses weren’t even white, much less unicorns and storybook princesses didn’t wear cut-off jean shorts, boots and tank tops.  He didn’t even want to think what Merle would have called him, if his brother had been there and Daryl had ever been stupid enough to voice such a thought.  Still, the impression remained.

 

Daryl had no idea how long they stayed like that, but finally the girl drew back and slipped through the fence, only feet from him.  He hadn’t intended to move, but found himself stepping forward out of the shadow of the tree.  She started and nearly screamed, her already big eyes going huge, but she managed to only gasp.

 

“Shouldn’t be out here all alone,” he drawled softly at her.

 

“I just needed to get out of the house a minute,” she said, tucking her arms together briefly before dropping them to her sides.  “There are a lot of strangers around and it feels so crowded.”

 

He nodded.  He could understand that – hadn’t wanted to be in or near the house himself because of it.  “Still…”

 

She broke in, “I didn’t see you at supper.  Did you get anything to eat?  Do you need anything?”

 

“Carol brought me a plate,” he grunted, surprised.  “Don’t need anythin’.”  He looked at her seriously, “Better be careful who you say that to, Princess.  Some men may ask you for things you don’t want to give ‘em and that boy of yours won’t help you much.”

 

Without thinking, they’d both stepped back into the shadow of the oak as they talked and Beth had been looking around, her eyes seeming to take in the details of the farm in the dim light available.  When he added that last part, though, her eyes shifted back to him and she bit her bottom lip nervously.  “Like Mr. Walsh, you mean?”  He started, surprised at her perception and stared intently at her.  “I know he seems involved with Andrea, but he acts so possessive with Lori…worse than Jimmy’s ever been with me; plus, the thing with Otis....” She allowed the sentence to trail off, abashed and dropped her eyes to the ground, “Sorry, I know he’s one of your friends.”

 

“Don’t talk to nobody else about Otis, okay?  Don’t even think too hard about him.  It’s not safe.”  Daryl put a finger under her chin, drawing her face up and she lifted her eyes back to his as he shifted a step closer, shaking his head. “Anybody makes you feel that way you listen to your gut and stay away from them.  Don’t matter what anyone else thinks of them.  You trust yourself and be careful.”

 

“Okay,” she nodded, then sighed and looked around, “I wish I could just say here with you.”  She realized what she’d said and clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes going wide again. “Oh!  I didn’t mean that in a bad way!  It’s just so much cooler out here and its quiet…peaceful.  I never realized before how loud even a few more people in the house could be and it feels like I can’t turn around without bumping into someone.”

 

He smirked at her, “Here I thought it was my charmin’ company you were wantin’,” he drawled as she blushed so deeply he could even see it in the moonlight.  He relented and his voice softened, “Nah, I get it…s’ okay.”

 

She broke into a smile then, “My name’s Beth.  I’d better get back.”  They were both turning to face the house as she was getting ready to walk away when her breath hitched as she looked at the house and breathed “Daddy” as she spied him peering out from an upper-story window.  Daryl put his hand on her stomach and pushed her gently back into the trunk of the tree facing away from the house as he melted further back.  Without thinking, he ended up pressing her into his side, unconsciously covering her protectively and watched until the older man was no longer visible.  When he relaxed and moved, she bent over and removed her boots and socks and he was startled at how much tinier she seemed without inches added by the heels, his already protective instincts going into overdrive so much that he had to drag his eyes away.  After a few more minutes scanning the house and surroundings, he whispered, “Coast’s clear.”

 

She breathed, “I’d better get back inside.  If they notice I’m gone, there’ll be hell to pay.”

 

His lips quirked, “I cannot believe you just said ‘hell,’ Princess.”  She looked so abashed in response to his teasing that he almost smiled again, enjoying how easily he could make her squirm.  “Daryl,” he added.

 

She met his eyes once again, distracted, a small frown between her brows so he grunted, “You Beth, me Daryl.”

 

The blonde smiled, but groaned quietly, shaking her head, “Goodnight, Daryl.”

 

“’Night, Moonlight.”

 

She rolled her eyes at the new nickname, then ran lightly across the yard and slipped into the house like a shadow.

 

o))O((o

 

Beth was sitting with Carl while his parents took a break the next morning.  She’d helped her father check the boy’s gunshot wound and make sure it was not showing signs of infection.  Things were looking up for the child as far as she could tell and her father seemed hopeful he’d continue to improve.

 

Her father was angry with her, though, and keeping her close.  When they’d seen him last night, Hershel had been checking the house and had already seen his youngest wasn’t in bed where he’d expected her to be and he’d been waiting in her room when she slipped back inside.  He’d been furious.  The only reason he’d given her any chance at all was that Jimmy had been asleep in his bed and Beth had smelled distinctly of horse.  She knew she also smelled a little like Daryl, but since he mostly smelled like leather, oil, earth, grass, animals and a bit of pine forest, he didn’t smell that different than what she could have picked up out on the farm.  Although her father had felt something was off, he’d provisionally accepted that she’d been out with the horses and then had spent time looking at the farm under the moonlight, but still demanded she not leave the house again unless accompanied by him, Patty or Maggie.  She’d begged quietly arguing she hadn’t done anything to deserve his mistrust, but he hadn’t softened.

 

She’d overheard him talking to Patty, Maggie and Jimmy earlier telling them he’d put her on restriction and she wasn’t allowed to go anywhere by herself or with Jimmy or anyone outside of the family.   The Grimes’ had been in the house and overheard Hershel’s still-angry declarations and asked what had happened.  When they heard Hershel’s younger daughter had been missing for over an hour, (it had been well over two, but even Beth didn’t know for sure and it was definitely good Hershel wasn’t aware of the full extent of her absence), in the middle of the night, they’d hastened to assure him no one in their group would mess with their host’s sixteen-year-old daughter.  Lori had talked quietly to Beth’s father about how much Carl enjoyed being read to and asked if Beth would sit with the boy while Lori checked some things around the camp and read or talk to Carl for a while if he woke up and neither she nor Rick was in the room.  Hershel had agreed on the provision that Beth leave the room if either of Carl’s parents was present as she had other chores to do on the farm, but Beth had noted with relief that he seemed calmer after the former deputy and his wife had spoken.

 

The little blonde was frustrated.  Maggie had been wild from the time she was much younger than Beth and Hershel and Beth’s mother, Annette, had been driven to distraction trying to watch over the older girl and keep her safe.  Beth’s older brother, Shawn, had been horribly protective of both sisters, but had somehow understood that Maggie was going to do what she was going to do.  Often, he’d acted as Maggie’s accomplice just so he could go along on her adventures and keep her safe.  Shawn’s natural charm and ability to wind his mother around his fingers (and hers to wind her husband) had kept them from being constantly grounded, but only a certain innate sweetness in her personality had kept Maggie from getting into serious trouble.  Still, her father seemed to remember every infraction that he knew about and attribute them all to Beth, especially since her mother and brother had…gotten sick?...died?

 

She missed them so much every day that she had a constant pain in her chest.

 

Beth wanted to believe her father when he said her mother and Shawn were only sick and that they’d be safe with others like them until the cure was discovered, but she hadn’t been allowed to go see them since they were taken away.  School had still been in session the day she’d gotten home to be told both her mom and Shawn had been taken away to the barn.  She missed them like crazy and wanted them back so much.

 

Some people had said the people walking around trying to eat others were dead who had come back, but it seemed impossible…something out of bad B-movies from the 1960’s.  Everyone agreed it was a virus, and her father was trained in medicine and said all viruses were curable, although at some point people had thought they weren’t and many had died in epidemics.  He always talked about it was just Mother Nature finding balance or God bringing the world back to where it should be and how they just had to hang on and have faith until someone found the cure.  At that point, he was firm in his belief that the ones the new group called ‘walkers’ were just sick, not dead and Beth hadn’t been allowed to go to the barn or be near any of them.

 

Beth prayed her father was right…Jimmy was the only one of her close friends left and she’d had a lot of friends, even though she’d been quieter than her siblings.  She and Jimmy had known each other since they were little, but they’d never been more than friends until just before they’d been stuck together on the farm and he’d been so sweet about her mother and brother.  If anyone else their age had survived, their families had moved away.  When they’d checked other farms, they’d found them abandoned or sometimes it was people they knew, but infected and strangely aggressive.  After having that experience a couple times, her father had forbidden Beth to go off their property anymore and demanded that if she see someone who appeared infected that she stay far away and return home quickly to get himself, Otis or Maggie and now Otis was gone as well.

 

Beth sighed, sad that her father was upset with her as she waited for Carl to wake up.  After a while, she thought she heard Daryl’s voice outside, near the porch talking to Mr. Grimes.  She walked to the window and peered out, listening as the men spoke.  She thought Daryl seemed defensive most of the time…he’d held himself separate during the ceremony for Otis, eyeing the other deputy, Shane, occasionally and meeting her eyes a time or two.  His eyes didn’t seem to miss anything.  He’d been so kind to her last night and Beth had been struck by the fact that his search for Carol’s girl was kind as well.  If she’d met him on the street or just heard him talking now she might not have felt safe around him, but his actions had shown he was a good man and her heart warmed.  She said a small prayer for his safety and that he’d find the girl as he walked away toward the woods she’d played in so often growing up.

 

She saw Carl’s mother moving toward the house and knew the brunette would be in soon, so started mentally making a list of chores for that morning, noting she’d have to check in with Patty and find out if there was anything special that needed to be done with the extra mouths to feed.

 

The tallest man in the Atlanta group walked across the yard and Beth drew back into the room.  Shane Walsh scared her.  There was something in his eyes and voice when he talked about Otis and Beth had found she didn’t believe his story about the farmhand’s willing sacrifice to save a boy he didn’t know.  She knew how much Otis loved his wife and he would have done anything to come home to her…plus, Mr. Walsh had Otis’ gun and no one she’d known growing up just handed their trusted weapon to someone else.  A couple times she’d caught his eyes lingering on her or Maggie in a way that had scared her badly.  She remembered what Daryl said the night before and was listening to her instincts with all her might and decided to be grateful for the injunction to be with a member of her family at all times.

 

Lori entered the room and Beth returned her wan smile with a warm one.  “He hasn’t awakened yet but his breathing is good and his wound is doing so well.”

 

“Thank you, Beth. I’ll stay in here for a while,” the older woman replied as she climbed gently onto the bed, to sit against the headboard and stroke her son’s hair.

 

Beth slipped out of the room and started around Lori’s husband, who was heading down the hall toward the room.  She offered him a small smile and was almost past him when he put a hand on her arm and stopped her with a determined look on his face.  She looked up inquiringly and he queried, “Your father said you were outside for some time last night?”

 

“Yes, sir,” Beth said, remembering Shawn’s often-repeated advice and not giving extra information away before it was requested.

 

“We don’t want any trouble between our group and your family.  You mind if I ask what you were doing out in the middle of the night?”

 

“I hadn’t spent any time with my horses for a few days and I took them some carrots and spent some time with them, that’s all.  I usually ride every day, but with all the things that have been happening, I haven’t been out much and they like the attention.”

 

“ _Your_ horses?” he asked with a small smile and a slightly teasing tone, trying to draw her out.

 

“They may technically be my dad’s, but nobody usually rides Nellie but me and Velvet was Mom’s and she’s….” Beth didn’t know how to continue, so she looked down and scuffed the toe of her boot on the floor.  “The other horses don’t usually come and nobody goes near Thunder but me and I’d already seen him earlier” she added as an afterthought.

 

The officer cleared his throat lightly and said, “Nobody bothered you?  You were safe?”

 

Beth looked back up and her clear blue eyes met his honestly, “I was fine and nobody bothered me at all.  I just really needed to get out and the horses always seem to like it.  I hate that Daddy’s so upset, but nothing happened other than that he caught me this time.”

 

The former deputy’s mouth quirked at the words ‘this time,’ but then he stared into her eyes for a long moment and Beth felt herself wanting to reach out and comfort him for some reason.  She’d seen and heard his anguish over his son and witnessed the man who was supposed to be his friend around his wife.  She’d also seen how much he cared and how hard he seemed to try with his wife and son and how helpless he was at it, but she didn’t know what to do, so she stayed still and unconsciously bit her lower lip.  His eyes dropped to her mouth and he quickly drew a deep breath and straightened, “Okay, as long as that’s it and things are fine, but let me know if someone in my group acts out and I’ll handle it for you…or let your dad know and he’ll come to me.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” she said with a sweet smile.  “Do you need anything?  I helped Daddy change Carl’s dressing this morning and it looks fine right now and his color’s really good.”

 

“I’m okay for now, thank you…Beth, right?”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Call me Rick” he smiled and moved off down the hall toward the room where his son lay recovering.

 

o))O((o


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another day of searching and trying to work things out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always feel as though I should apologize for how Carol's coming out in this story. She's in a particularly bad place with all that's happened and losing Sophia and she blames Rick for that loss and it's coming out in different ways. Things get better.

Rick was having a moment as he walked away from Hershel’s younger daughter.  He’d seen her around the farm, but he’d been distracted by everything that had happened; now, he’d suddenly noticed her with a vengeance.  There was something about her that reminded him of Lori when they’d first met in spite of the differences in looks and coloring, a kind of sweetly trusting softness he missed and longed to possess again.  If she was his, he’d probably be worse than Hershel, he thought wryly just before opening the door to see Carl and talk to Lori before leaving once more on the search for Sophia.

 

It seemed like he couldn’t get a moment’s peace. Nearly everyone seemed to want his time, attention and opinions.  Something seemed off with Shane, but he’d pushed that issue to the back of his head, unable to apply any energy to the thought.  Carol was still demanding people search for her daughter and Rick didn’t know how to tell her ‘no’ even though his training for the sheriff’s department and every case he’d studied said there was no real chance that she was still alive and that they would get her back.  It had been true even in the old world, but he knew if it was Carl that he’d be out there and would want everyone else helping as well, no matter what the case studies said.  For every rule there were exceptions.

 

Maybe there were still miracles.

 

o))O((o

 

There weren’t any miracles for Daryl that day.  Nobody watched him long enough to see when he’d caught and saddled Nellie and ridden her out into the woods.  Things seemed to be going well for a while; he’d located a doll that he remembered seeing with Sophia and was scouting for more sign when the skittish horse had shied at something and thrown Daryl off into a ravine.  The fall had jolted his crossbow and sent a bolt into his side and he’d landed hard on the rocks in the shallows of the river below.  The fall, concussion, shock and blood loss had all taken their toll on his body and he hadn’t enjoyed the resulting hallucinations of Merle, but at least his brother had helped awaken him in time to kill the walker chewing on his boot before it could reach any of his flesh, as well as the other walker coming at him intent on joining the feast.  Merle had also badgered him into getting out of the ravine…twice, since he fell back the first time.  Daryl was the first to acknowledge his brother’s faults, but Merle never would just lie down and die for anyone or allow his baby brother to do so either.

 

Of course, all his efforts would have been in vain if Andrea had been as good a shot in real life as she was in her imagination.

 

Daryl came to as Hershel was putting the stitches in his head wound, which made him wish he could just pass out again.  He groaned as someone slipped part of a belt between his teeth and the old man advised him to bear down since he still had several stitches to go.  The hunter listened as the older man gave quiet instructions to someone who helped him snip the sutures and put a dressing on the wound.  Gentle hands helped draw the covers up from behind as the vet talked to Daryl about resting that evening and sending in some food and water soon.  Daryl figured it was Otis’ woman, who’d helped Hershel with Carl…he wasn’t happy about them seeing his back, but figured wryly if the woman had seen Otis naked she wouldn’t be too disturbed by his scars.  Then he heard the old man murmur, “Thank you, Bethy.  Would you bring in a tray when the food’s ready?”

 

“Of course, Daddy,” the girl’s soft voice made Daryl’s eyes fly open and he shrank under the covers, wincing as it twisted the wounds in his side.  He glared at them both, not able to get words out of his mouth immediately.  Beth looked startled at his reaction, but glanced at her dad, who nodded to the door and she left the room carrying the tray with the equipment her father had used to treat Daryl.

 

Rick came into the room as Beth went out and walked around the bed to join Hershel so that Daryl could continue to lie on his side and still see both men.

 

Hershel talked to both men for a couple minutes about Daryl’s wounds, about the importance of bed rest, at least the rest of the evening and that night, and recommended he take it easy the next day.  After being thanked by the younger men, the vet left to check on Carl then have some dinner.

 

“What happened?” Daryl croaked.

 

Rick looked serious, “I was going to ask you that same question…you’re in bad shape; but, after you got back…Andrea shot you and grazed your scalp.”

 

“What the hell? I was out there trying to help find Sophia and…” the redneck’s voice was rising.

 

Rick interrupted “You were in terrible shape when you got back, Daryl.  You were limping, covered head to toe in mud and blood…she thought you’d turned…you were wearing _ears_ , man.  What happened out there?”  He took a seat in a chair by the bedside and lowered his voice.

 

As the younger man told of his misadventures, Rick listened in sympathy, occasional amusement and admiration at the hunter’s determination to survive and bring the doll back to the group.  In turn, Rick relayed Andrea’s heartfelt apology to Daryl and also advised of Nellie’s nickname of Nervous Nellie and recommended the hunter not take any more livestock without first consulting with Hershel.  He said he’d take Daryl’s suggestion that Nellie be made into horseburger at the next opportunity under advisement and promised to mention it to Beth since she’d said Nellie was her horse.

 

“Never mind” the redneck grumbled, turning his face into the pillow and pulling the covers up almost to his neck, “girl would probably just give it an apple or some shit.”

 

“Get some rest” Rick advised with a grin, patting him on the shoulder before walking out the door.

 

Daryl wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or annoyed when it was Carol who brought in a tray a short time later, but he settled on annoyed since it seemed safer with the damaged, needy older woman.  He thought she was good people and didn’t want to add to the hurt she already felt; it seemed easier on both of them to push away.

 o))O((o

When he awoke the next day, Daryl spied the petite blonde in a chair next to his bed, bare feet resting on the edge of the mattress while she read.  As soon as she heard him move, Beth glanced up and smiled, putting down the book.  Daryl remembered she’d seen his back, which was covered in scars from beatings his father had given him with implements which had bitten deeply into Daryl’s tender boyhood skin and burns from cigarettes and, once, a coffeepot.  He felt afraid and defensive, worried about her reaction and how she would judge him; but when his angry, fearful eyes met hers he saw her eyes looked the same as they had before.

 

“Good morning,” she said brightly, “are you hungry?  Breakfast’s ready.  Daddy said you can get up if you feel like it, or I can bring something in to you.”

 

He bit back the nasty things that were his first instinct and grunted “Nah, I’ll get up.  What ya reading?”

 

Beth replied “’Atlas Shrugged’…it’s one of my favorite books and I really brought it down to see if you wanted to read it, if you didn’t feel like getting up yet.  Would you like to read it?  It’s about a dystopian future and it’s not always really happy, but it makes you think.  I had to read it for class once and really liked it a lot.”

 

“Don’t know if anyone needs to read about dystopia anymore.  Going back out to look for Sophia again today, anyway, not staying in bed,” although his fingers itched to take it…he liked to read and was glad that she didn’t assume he was an illiterate hick.  It made him forget for a few seconds that he was mad at her.  Of their own volition, his fingers reached for the book she offered him and she smiled as he took it.

 

“You can borrow it anyway…can have it if you want it or give it back when you’re done.”  She looked shyly pleased that he’d taken it in the first place and stood before adding, “I put aside a plate for you to stay warm in the oven, but I’ll make you some fresh eggs if you’re getting up.  Is scrambled okay?”

 

“Over medium” he said, just to be a little difficult since he was still angry that she’d seen him vulnerable without his shirt and had probably figured out at least some of the things he always preferred to keep secret.

 

“You got it” she said brightly and slipped out of the room as he groaned and eased himself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed.  As he did so, he realized he was only in a pair of boxers.  What the hell was her father thinking letting her help clean and patch up a strange man who was only wearing a pair of underwear?  Who would allow his teenage daughter to be alone in the room with that man?  Their first day on the farm Herschel had been railing about Beth needing to be watched all the time, but as far as he could tell most people just ignored the girl and now she was helping care for both him and Carl.  He was sure this was the strangest household he’d ever seen in his whole life.

 

o))O((o

 

It was another unproductive, frustrating search for Carol’s missing daughter and Daryl was itching to take out his anger in some way.  He was holding out hope that Sophia would be found alive and well, but it was getting harder and harder and trying to keep the women in the group going and it was wearing on him.  When he spotted Beth in the horse barn finishing the mucking out, he didn’t try to stop himself from walking over to rant at her.

 

Beth was coming back with the empty wheelbarrow when she spied him and her face dropped, “No luck?”

 

He stopped, taken aback, “Nah, nothing today; thought maybe she’d gone to a church that had recorded bells sounding every so often, but no real sign of her.”

 

“That must have been the Episcopalian church; I didn’t know it was still playing.  They couldn’t afford bells, so they had the speakers and electronic timer installed a few years ago…it runs off of batteries.”  She had put the wheelbarrow back in its place and stood the pitchfork that had been balanced on it back against the wall as she spoke.  “Maggie and I have been hiking and riding in these woods all our lives.  Maybe we can come out with you all next time?  We used to play hide and seek and all kinds of games in the woods around here with Shawn and I could show you some of the places we used to use for those things when we were younger.”

 

It was such a sweet offer that he forgot for another second that he was really angry with her for seeing his back, for being in the room with him when he was hurt and vulnerable, for being someone who’d grown up protected and loved.  He stood watching silently as she scooped pellets into four buckets, then meal, added a small amount of molasses and then moved into one of the stalls.  She’d already cleaned out the dirty straw and spread fresh, dumped the old water and replaced it and put hay for eating into a net in each stall and just needed to give each horse its feed.  She took the first bucket and moved into the stall with that damn Nellie, talking to the animal and nudging it out of the way as she moved to hook the bucket to the wall, then came out of that stall, slid the lock into place, then repeated it with the next horse that had been in the field the other night, Velvet, then with a third horse he had only seen at a distance.

 

When she picked up the fourth bucket and headed toward a far stall where a taller, larger black horse with wild eyes pushed its head over the stall door, Daryl instinctively moved to follow her and the horse whinnied wildly, the eye facing the man wide and frightened.  Beth glanced over her shoulder and said “Would you stand back, please?  Thunder won’t mean to hurt me, but he doesn’t like most other people and it will make him skittish if you’re too close.”

 

Daryl retreated to where he had been and watched anxiously as the tiny blonde approached the stall, speaking soothingly to the large animal, which had focused on the young woman.  The horse made low nickering noises back at her and she pulled back the sliding lock and opened the stall.  She came out after a minute and smiled at the hunter.

 

“Thank you, Daryl.  They should be starting supper.  Do you want to come with me and see if we can find something?”

 

He nodded, but was still looking at the far stall.  “What’s wrong with that horse?”

 

“Thunder? There’s nothing wrong with him.”  She sounded protective, as though he had criticized a family member, “He’s my special horse.”

 

“What makes him special?”

 

“You know Daddy’s a vet?  He worked with large and small animals and he helped animal control when they needed him when they found abused animals, puppy mills, cock fighting…stuff like that.”  He nodded, so she continued, “Thunder was one of those calls and I went on it with Daddy because he’d picked me up at school, then had gotten called out to a couple farms for emergencies.  When we got to the place Thunder was being kept, we found this big colt…he wasn’t a baby anymore, but was probably less than nine months…and he was seriously underweight.  All his bones were sticking out, his coat was caked with red mud, he could barely stand and he’d been beaten by someone…there were cuts all over him  with flies and maggots in them…it was awful.  I was so angry for him!  His mother was so bad off Daddy had to put her down…she’d stopped producing milk because she was starving too and had developed a bad infection that had gotten into her blood from her own cuts and mastitis.  We loaded Thunder into a horse trailer and brought him home and Daddy didn’t think he was going to make it at first, but I helped with him and he recovered.  He still doesn’t trust other people very much, but he likes me pretty well.”

 

He snorted and Beth stopped suddenly, looking up at him shyly when he stopped as well, not looking directly at her, but glancing at her out of the corners of his eyes.  “Are you angry at me?” her voice was quiet and he felt like a heathen for it, but still nodded.  She nodded, dropping her eyes and catching her lower lip between her teeth.  “Is it because I saw your back?”

 

He just nodded his head and they both stopped walking in the middle of the yard.

 

Beth drew in a breath, then brought her eyes back to his and continued quietly “Do you think what happened to Thunder was his fault?”

 

Daryl looked at her, still not facing her directly, then shook his head.

 

“Neither do I,” Beth said, looking up at him calmly, “it doesn’t make me look at him any differently, either.  Well…maybe he’s a little more special to me, but that’s because Daddy let me sleep out in the stable with him the first few weeks and we have a bond.”

 

After a second, Daryl nodded at her and they both started walking again.  As they went up the porch steps, he reached over and gently tugged her ponytail before opening the door for her.

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a warning, this chapter includes Beth's suicide attempt in it and characters talk about it a little. Please don't read it if the subject matter is a potential trigger or distressing for you.

He couldn’t believe that he shot both her mother and brother in front of her.  As soon as the shooting stopped, she’d run to her mother’s body to weep and mourn and the body still wasn’t completely dead.  They’d barely kept Beth from getting bitten or scratched before Andrea had put the curved pruning saw through the head of her mother’s body.  Daryl didn’t know which one had been Beth’s half-brother, Shawn, until Patty identified the bodies and he’d realized with a sick, punched-in-the-guts feeling, that he’d taken down two of Beth’s closest loved ones while she’d stood behind him, watching helplessly and realizing for the first time they were really dead.

 

He hadn’t thought he could ever feel worse than when Sophia had come out of the barn as a walker until he watched the youngest Greene flinging herself at her mother’s body, calling for her mom.  Her screams as she was grabbed still rang in his ears, along with Carol’s sobbing.  Daryl moved his camp further away from everyone else because being alone was the only thing that was tolerable to him at that moment.  The threat of walkers wasn’t as bad as being around the others right now.  When Lori came to him asking for his help because of Beth’s collapse, he could not bring himself to help; he couldn’t face another minute looking for someone who was missing.  He pushed down his feelings for the small blonde…he couldn’t think about her just then.  Lori calling him selfish had sent him over the edge; he may have been able to take it from someone else, but not her, not when he’d spent more time than anyone looking for Sophia or trying to teach these city-bred idiots to survive.

 

Carol was the one who’d come to give him updates, even after he’d told her he didn’t care anymore and just wanted to be left alone.  She’d been mad when he’d told her Lori had asked her to go after Hershel, Rick and Glenn and not only had he refused, but also hadn’t told anyone that Lori had left the farm.  At first it seemed to him that she wanted to punish him for his selfishness by telling him every painful detail, but it only brought him relief when she came to tell him that Beth was recovering from her collapse even if that was quickly followed by word she’d cut one of her wrists.  The hunter found himself staring at what he’d learned was her window that night thinking of the sweet young woman out in the field with her horses and mentally cursed her for almost taking herself out of his world.

 

o))O((o

 

The morning after Beth had cut her wrist, Rick had told her father he’d had training dealing with suicidal people and wanted to talk to Beth just to make sure that she was okay, leaving out the fact it was about an hour of training in a classroom over ten years ago.  With Hershel’s permission the former deputy slipped into her room and sat in the chair next to her bed, his eyes resting on her face before slipping down to her bandaged wrist.  After a moment, Beth seemed to feel his gaze on her and her eyes slipped open and rested on him drowsily.

 

“Hey” she said softly, just a breath of sound in the quiet house.

 

“How are you doing Beth?” his voice low and concerned.

 

The young woman struggled to sit up and he helped her and arranged her pillows behind her back and eased her closer to the headboard.  “I feel better, thank you...better than I have since Mama and Shawn were taken away, anyway.”

 

“We’ve all lost people; Daryl doesn’t know if his brother’s alive or dead, Carol just lost her daughter, Andrea’s sister died in her arms not long ago and most of us have either lost everyone who isn’t with us or we have no idea if they are alive or dead.  Your mother and brother…all those people…have been dead since they were bitten, no matter what your father said and we had to put them down.”

 

Tears formed in her eyes as he spoke and she replied quietly “I know, Rick…I know that now and I’m so sorry about what I did!”  She looked thoroughly ashamed of her actions.

 

“Maggie told us that your daddy told you all that they weren’t dead, just sick.  She’d seen differently, but your father hadn’t listened to her.”

 

Beth nodded “He’s been so adamant that they weren’t dead, that the virus could be cured and everyone would just go back to being normal.”  She played with the embroidered edging on the top sheet, dropping her eyes before glancing up at Rick again.  “We were never allowed to get that close to the people we saw because they were so aggressive and Daddy made us promise that when we saw them we’d just come and get him or Otis.”

 

Rick nodded, looking down at his hands for a moment before replying. “Your dad said he wouldn’t allow you to mourn because he was so deep in denial.  He’s worried it could be why you tried to kill yourself.”

 

The young blonde took a moment to try to find the right words.  “Maybe that was part of it…I trusted Daddy and was holding out hope until…” her eyes filled with tears and she choked for a few seconds.  “I don’t want to hurt anyone, Rick,” she admitted softly.  “Not ever.  Just the thought…”  She shuddered before adding, “You never had a chance to know Mama or Shawn, but all they ever wanted to do was help people.  They’d have hated turning into those things so much.  All I wanted was a choice and for a little while it seemed like the only one.”  She ducked her head, ashamed, “It sounds stupid, I know….”

 

Rick shook his head and reached out to rest his hand on her undamaged one, ducking his head and meeting her eyes to make sure she was listening. “It’s not stupid, but you have to be careful with that…you can’t do something like that every time you feel overwhelmed and unconnected because that will be all the time in this world; you’ve got to find a way to work through those things.  How do you feel now?”

 

“Better…normal, I guess” she said with a small smile as she met his eyes, “I told Dad and Maggie I want to live and I do…not just survive, but really live again.”

 

“Okay” he nodded, noting that her eyes were back to looking alert and interested, “none of us knows what’s going to happen next and we’re all just learning how to deal with this new world.”  He snorted lightly, “I don’t know if anyone’s newer to it than I am since I was in a coma for a lot of it, but all of us are learning how to operate, so just come and talk to someone the next time if you need to…just maybe not to Andrea.”

 

One side of her mouth quirked up and she said softly, “Her advice actually helped, in a way, but I know Maggie and Daddy don’t ever want her in the house again.”

 

“They’re just mad…I’m betting you’ll be surprised how quickly they get over it if you’re okay, though.  Why don’t you get dressed and come down now?  Everyone will feel better to see you up and about.”

 

Beth nodded and smiled sweetly, making the former deputy’s heart trip, “Okay.”  Rick got off the bed as she started to move around.  “Hey…I forgot to ask earlier, but how’s Carl?  Daddy said he’s been up and around.”

 

Rick’s smile was huge and genuine, “He’s great!  He woke up yesterday and got out of bed and walked around a little this morning…he could use someone to talk with today, though, while his mom and I are busy.”

 

“I’d be happy to sit with him for a while…we have cards and lots of board games too.  Does he like comics or anything?  Shawn loved comics and we have some Carl might like.”

 

“He was just starting to like comics when I got shot, but he’s got a couple in his pack, so he might like that and I’m in favor of anything that will keep him occupied and quiet.”

 

The young woman nodded, “I’ll grab some before I go down to see him, just in case.”

 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Rick murmured, the endearment slipping out without any forethought on his part as he got up to leave.

 

Beth dressed quickly in a bright green peasant top, jeans and boots before braiding her hair, then headed to gather a selection of comic books from Shawn’s room before running downstairs.  She picked up a box that included a board and plastic pieces for both chess and checkers and located one of their packs of playing cards before heading to the room Carl occupied.  The boy was sleeping, so Beth simply set the games down on a dresser and placed the comics on the nightstand next to the bed before she headed to the kitchen to look for breakfast.

 

She found Patty and Lori in the kitchen, cleaning up from everyone else’s breakfast.

 

“Hi honey, it’s so good to see you up!” Patty exclaimed, hurriedly drying her hands and walking over to give Beth a hug while Lori finished drying a pan and set it aside before coming over to do the same.

 

“You look so good, Beth, how are you feeling?” Lori said as she embraced the younger woman.

 

“Really good today, thank you!  I’m starving, though…is there anything left?”

 

“I saved you a plate because your daddy hoped you’d be getting up today” Patty replied.  “Do you want me to make you some eggs, though?”

 

“Thank you so much, Patty!  I’ll make some myself, thank you.  What’s been happening while I’ve been out?”  Beth asked while she moved to scramble a couple eggs for her breakfast.

 

The older women filled the young blonde in while they continued to work and Beth was shocked to hear about the young man who had been brought back to the farm by her father, Rick and Glenn.  She’d been even more surprised to hear that Rick and Shane had tried to take the man away and drop him off miles from the farm so that he wouldn’t be able to report their position back to the others in his group only to learn that the young man knew who Maggie was and where the farm was as well.  They’d brought him back and were still trying to decide what to do with him.

 

“Maggie doesn’t remember him?” Beth asked, perched on a stool and eating her breakfast off the counter.

 

“No memory of him at all, but you know how guys are with her.  All the guys knew Maggie and she’s been courted by most of the young men in town since she was about thirteen” Patty advised Lori.

 

“I don’t remember him either, but he had probably graduated before I got to high school.”

 

Patty nodded “We knew his family a bit…they lived on the other side of town.  His daddy worked on the road crew and was trying to get Randall on with them too, but we never knew them well.  Apparently the men he’s been with since the Turn were the ones who attacked our men when your daddy was at that bar.”

 

 Beth gasped and asked for more details on that story and learned what the other women knew and they told her everything up to that morning, including Daryl beating up the young man for information.  She’d stopped eating before the food was finished, but didn’t feel like eating any more after the story was done, so she covered her plate and stuck the rest in the refrigerator before asking if Patty needed her to do anything in particular.

 

“No, honey…you go outside and get some sun and relax for a while; just don’t go to the big barn, that’s where Randall is.  We let the horses out into the fields, so you can go make sure your sister mucked out the horse barn if you’d like, but don’t do too much.  Your daddy said you need to take it easy on your arm so you don’t pull the stitches and break them open.”

 

Beth flushed and nodded before going over to hug Patty again, then Lori before heading outside into the sunshine.  She headed over to the horse barn to check the stalls and was relieved to see they were already clean and there was fresh hay down.  As she exited the barn, she caught sight of angel wings from the corner of her eye and watched as Daryl said something emphatically to Rick and Shane before heading back in her direction, though he was still some distance away. She turned and kept walking and headed in the general direction where Lori had said he had his camp, hoping he would talk to her.

 

She felt more than heard him drawing closer as they got nearer to his tent.  “What do you want?” Daryl spat out suddenly, catching her by her left arm and spinning her around.

 

Beth shrugged, “Just wanted to see you, see how you are.”

 

The redneck snorted “Like you care…almost left us all yourself.”  He still had her arm in his grip, but suddenly threw it away from him, “Selfish…you’re just a stupid, selfish…!  I don’t want you here…go on, get!”

 

“You don’t get it!” Beth said emphatically, taking a step closer to the angry man.  “I didn’t _know_ and Daddy wouldn’t let us mourn, wouldn’t let me see them…I got home from school one day and they were just gone.  I thought they were alive, but then I see them again and they get shot in front of me!”  Daryl winced knowing he was the one to put them both down in front of her and Beth suddenly drew in a breath and shook her head, “I didn’t come here to talk about that, Daryl…you just did what was necessary to protect us all when Shane and Andrea forced your hand.”  Her voice was softer still as she continued, “Patty and Lori told me about Randall and I wanted to see how you were doing.”

 

“Why?”

 

Beth just looked at him before asking “Do you want to walk a little bit?”

 

The hunter blinked, then shrugged and slung his crossbow back over his shoulder and started off across a field, Beth hurrying after him, catching him after a few steps and tugging on his shirt to slow him down.  He whipped around, pulling away “Don’t touch me!”

 

“Daryl….”

 

“No!  What the hell’s wrong with you that you can’t understand that word?”

 

“Daryl!”  Beth grabbed his hand in both of hers this time and clung on and he looked at her bandaged wrist and stopped. “It’s not your fault.”

 

He stopped abruptly, hanging his head and glancing at her from under his bangs and she clung to his hand and said “What happened with me wasn’t your fault.  It wasn’t you shooting Mama and Shawn…I know you had to and you didn’t know who they were anyway.  If Rick and Shane hadn’t pulled me away and Andrea hadn’t done what she did, I wouldn’t be here now.  It was all so much at once I just didn’t know how to deal with everything I was feeling.  Daddy always insisted they could be cured and…I never got to say good-bye to them.”

 

“Why not?” he asked, raising his head as curiosity overtook his shame and shyness.

 

“Shawn had just moved home a few days before and one morning he and Mama went out to the garden to gather some vegetables and one of the neighbors had turned and just came up on them while they had their heads down working.  By the time I got home from school that day Daddy and Otis had locked them in the barn with some others they’d found.  They never let me go to the barn and Jimmy was living here by then and always helped them keep me away, so I never even glimpsed them.”

 

She took one hand away from his to swipe at the tears running down her face, but Daryl didn’t pull away as she added “I was running late for school that day and they were already busy, so I just ran out of the house to Jimmy’s truck so we’d be on time.  It even turned out to be the last day of school and it seemed like such a waste to have hurried off like that when they told us in last period that the schools were closing at the end of that day and to turn in all our books.”

 

“Never got to say good-bye to my mom,” Daryl replied in a low voice.

 

“Did she pass recently?” Beth asked, unconsciously winding the fingers of her left hand with Daryl’s as he turned and started walking a lot slower than he had before so that the little blonde could keep up effortlessly.

 

“Nah, back when I was a kid about Carl’s age.”  He glanced at her and went on, “Merle was off in the army by then and I’d been playing with the neighborhood kids when we saw smoke coming up from our neighborhood.  Other kids had bikes and took off, but I didn’t have a bike so I ran.  By the time I caught up they were all just staring at me and when I was close enough I could see why…it was our house on fire.  Fire trucks and police cars were already there and I pushed myself up to the front and a fireman took me aside and told me they couldn’t save my mom, she’d burned up in her bed.”

 

Beth’s face showed sympathy, but not pity and she stepped closer to Daryl as they walked, pressing her side into his arm and resting her head briefly on his shoulder before straightening.  “What did you do?”

 

“One of the men knew where my dad was and got him to come home and get me.  We crashed on someone’s couch for a week or two, then moved into a shack in the woods when he found a woman who would take us in.”

 

Beth just squeezed his hand sympathetically and they walked in silence for a moment. “Daryl?”

 

He gave a light grunt in response, letting her know he was listening.

 

“I’m really glad that you came to the farm,” Beth said, looking up at him with her big, blue eyes.

 

Daryl looked at her out of the corners of his eyes and gave a little half-smile before tugging very gently on her hand to keep her moving.  Beth wrapped her right hand around his upper arm for a moment, squeezing it close gently and again laid her head on his shoulder.  As she started to move away again, he followed slightly, keeping her pressed against him.  Normally he didn’t like to be touched, but he found he didn’t mind as much when it was Beth and it made him feel warm to have the young woman pressed to him.

 

They walked in silence for a long time until he felt Beth start to flag and noticed she was pale and sweating a little more than she should have been.

 

“Need to get you back, girl” Daryl said gently turning her back toward the farmhouse.

 

Beth nodded without saying anything and Daryl looked more closely at her and realized she looked exhausted.  “You okay, Beth?”

 

She nodded again and managed a small smile. ”I’m alright, but could we sit for a moment?  There are some stumps from trees Dad cut down earlier this year that are still in good shape.”

 

Daryl nodded and slipped his hand from hers and placed it around her waist to support her over to the stumps.  One was larger than the others and they both sat on that one and Beth leaned her head against Daryl’s shoulder while he kept his arm around her waist and continued to support her.  They sat for a few minutes without talking before the hunter realized she was falling asleep against him, completely worn out and more delicate than he’d thought from blood loss and the results of stress.

 

The redneck was used to staying still for long periods of time while hunting and simply sat and let the blonde rest against him for over an hour, then started to gently nudge the young woman who stirred against him and yawned.  Her eyes finally blinked open and she looked around, then looked up at him, still blinking in the sunshine before sitting up suddenly.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed.  “How long was I out?”

 

“Little over an hour” he shrugged making it seem like no big deal. “Think you can walk now?”

 

She nodded “I think so.”  Daryl stood up and extended a hand to pull her up and she stood carefully, stepping woozily to the side for a moment before shaking her head, straightening and smiling at him.

 

He watched her for a few more seconds before nodding and allowing her to reach for his hand again and wind her fingers through his before they again headed slowly for the big farmhouse.  During the walk back, they started to talk and discovered a mutual love of nature, living out in the country and animals, although Daryl admitted he could live without horses.

 

Beth squeezed his hand sympathetically, “I feel horrible that you got thrown by Nellie and I’m really glad that you’re okay, but she was the worst one you could have picked other than Thunder.  At least with him you know what you’re getting as soon as you get near, but I know Nellie looks calm until she sees something she doesn’t like.  Velvet’s a sweetie pie; I wish you’d taken her.  If you want to go again on horseback, you can ride her and I’ll ride Nell.”

 

He laughed ruefully, “Not happening.”

 

“Oh, come on, Daryl!” Beth teased, “You’ve never heard the expression ‘get back on the horse?’  You can’t give up on that kind of fun just from one bad experience.”

 

“You ever hear the expression ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me?’ I’m not getting back up on one of those things again, girl!”

 

Beth gave a peal of laughter, “You’ve got to trust someone sometime, Daryl, and I’m telling you Velvet wouldn’t throw you like that…she’s a love bug.”  Her expression suddenly became sober and pensive.

 

“Talk to me, girl” Daryl urged. “You need to sit down again?”  They were to the point they could see the whole upper story of the farmhouse, but still had a couple fields to cross.

 

“No, I’m fine” Beth said softly.  They walked for a few more seconds, Daryl staying silent because he could tell Beth was still working on what to say next.  “Saying that about trust, it made me think of that guy they told me about this morning, Randall?  They don’t trust him and Lori said you’d…questioned him?”

 

“I beat him up trying to get information” Daryl said bluntly.  “He never told me anything we could use.  Claims he joined up with a group after their area got overrun, but he never said exactly where they are, how many they are, what they’ve done.  Those men Rick and the others met in town…they weren’t good men, Beth…even your dad agrees on that score.”

 

“What do we do, then?  I hate to think that someone who went to school with any of us would hurt us…Patty said this morning that she and Otis knew his family a little and they seemed like decent people, but a lot of people do things now they wouldn’t have before.  What do you think?”  She looked up at him with large, pleading eyes.

 

His main thought was that he really wished he could get out of having this conversation when he could feel her need for reassurance through their joined hands.  Pulling her to a stop he looked seriously into her eyes, “I met someone not too long ago who said the world’s the same as it ever was and people…they’re the same, but without law, without  rules and punishments, there are people who will do things they’d never have done if those things were in place.”

 

“So…you think he’s bad?”

 

“I think he’s lying about stuff, about his group, about what they’re like, maybe about wanting to join us, but he’s not lying about knowing who your sister is or where your farm is…” his voice trailed off.

 

“Lori said Shane wants to kill him and Rick’s thinking about it.  I know Daddy won’t want them to, but what do you think?”

 

“Why do you care?” he asked, suddenly frustrated at her insistence.

 

“Because I trust you” she answered simply, her eyes and body language telling him it was the truth.

 

“Why?”

 

She looked at him with a small frown and held his hand more firmly, “You’ve done nothing but try to help everyone since I’ve known you.  You put more care into looking for Sophia than anyone else, you’ve stopped in to visit Carl every day, you hunt for food for the whole group….”

 

“Stop” he said, suddenly turning bashful and dropping her hand.

 

She instantly reached out and captured his hand again, “I mean it, Daryl!  You’re a good man…I think besides my daddy you’re the best man I’ve ever known.”

 

“I think the sun’s got to you” he muttered, but allowed her to hold onto his hand and turned her back toward the house.  “He’s a danger to us all.  I don’t want to kill him any more than your dad would, but we can’t trust him enough to keep him and if we let him go he will hightail it back to his group and tell them about us and then they’ll come and try to take what we have.”  He’s thinking about what Randall had told them about things his group had done to other people, other groups and he can imagine only too well it happening to their group.  Picturing the things those men would do to their women before finally allowing them to die makes his blood run cold.  When he thinks about those things happening to the blonde beside him, he knows he’ll put the kid down himself if it will keep them safe.

 

Beth nodded thoughtfully, “Lori said he helped Rick save Shane, though.  Are you sure we can’t trust him and make him part of the group?  If you were him and tried to join a group of good people and they kicked you out anyway and you had to choose between being alone or going back to a group of bad people, what would you do?”

 

He shrugged, “Probably go back to the group that would have me until I could move on…would depend on how bad they are and the kind of stuff they do; it’s not good to be alone anymore, but if they were doing things I hated, I wouldn’t stay.”  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “Kid like that would really need people…I understand why he’d go back, but it makes it more likely he’d tell them about us to prove he’s loyal.”

 

“Wouldn’t he want to prove he’s loyal to us if we kept him?”

 

“That’s why we don’t trust him, Beth. If he really was loyal to us he’d tell us all about that group he’s been with, but he’s not telling.  Rick told him he had to tell us for us to think about keeping him.”

 

“I’m glad I’m not the one making that decision” the blonde said after a minute.  “I don’t know if I could kill another living person just to keep myself safe.  Can’t we just keep him prisoner?”

 

Daryl shakes his head before answering “For how long? He’s using our resources and every minute he’s alive it’s possible for him to escape and go back to that group or kill us in our sleep.  Someone’s always gotta be on guard duty, too.  We can’t keep him as a prisoner.”

 

They walked in silence until they reached his camp, still too far from the house for the others to see them.  Daryl gestured and said “You should go on back.  I’m gonna pack up and move back to the others.”

 

“You are?  Can I help you?”

 

“No, you head back and get some rest, okay?”

 

“Okay, Daryl.” Beth moved suddenly and hugged him, tucking her head into the crook of his neck and murmuring “Thank you for talking to me.  You’re not mad anymore?”

 

He sighed into her hair, “Nah….”

 

She pulled back and smiled at him, then pushed up on her toes to kiss his cheek before turning and heading back to the house.  The hunter put his hand to his cheek as though holding in the gentle touch of her lips before moving absentmindedly to start packing up.  He’d moved around with Merle for so long that it didn’t take him that long to gather everything, breaking down his tent and putting everything into a neat pack.

 

Beth had vanished into the house by the time he reached the others, but Glenn hurried over to talk to him and make sure he was staying instead of getting ready to move out and Carol soon followed, bringing a canvas chair over so she could sit and talk to him as he set his tent back up under one of the trees in the yard where he’d have a good view of the house and the open window to Beth’s room.

 

**o))O((o**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The way Beth's family either smothers her or completely ignores her existence is so weird to me, but the show built it in....

Having to put Dale down was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do; he’d genuinely liked the funny, outspoken older man, even if they hadn’t always agreed.  Dale didn’t want to turn, though, and Daryl had seen enough people die after being bitten that he believed to the bottom of his soul that putting a bullet through his friend’s brain was an act of friendship and compassion.  The look in Dale’s eyes thanked him even as the younger man pulled the trigger.

 

Although it wasn’t reasonable, the Atlanta group had come to think of the farm as a place of refuge; having food in plenty, clean water to drink, medical care…hell, even real coffee without grounds floating in it, had lulled all of them into a false sense of security.  Sure, they’d set watches and Rick and Shane had done that shooting class, but they’d all relaxed.  Full bellies and the soft beds some of them had enjoyed within Hershel’s walls had caused them all to lower their guards to some extent and Dale’s death was a lesson to them all.

 

Daryl cursed himself for walking Beth so far from the house in her weakened state and was infinitely grateful they hadn’t run into trouble.  He snuck away a while the next morning when he saw Beth heading to the horse barn and pulled her through the second set of doors out to the back of the barn and held her for a while, burying his face in her soft hair while she hummed to him softly and gently rested her hands on his waist.  When he finally let her go, Beth leaned up and kissed him gently on his cheek and told him how sorry she was to hear about what he’d had to do for his friend.

 

Just then they heard Jimmy calling out for Beth and they’d broken apart, Daryl walking around the back of the barn and off a ways and Beth heading back in to the barn to see Jimmy who’d insisted on mucking out the stalls himself after Beth turned the horses out into the fields.  They’d known each other a while in school before they’d started dating and Beth cared about him a lot and appreciated how thoughtful he was at times.  She’d been angry at him for going off with Rick and his people to help look for Sophia…not that he’d gone to look, but the fact that he lied to Rick about having her father’s permission and adding to the tension between the groups.  His intentions were good and Beth loved him as a friend, but he could be stubborn and wasn’t always completely honest.  She truly appreciated him that morning, though, because her wrist was still very tender and she really didn’t want to rip the stitches.  Still, she missed Daryl when she wasn’t with him and knew he was hurting because of his friend and she wished there was a polite way to excuse herself, but she couldn’t think of one at that point.

 

When they were done in the horse barn, they headed back toward the house and joined the group in the yard to find them planning to move Rick’s group into the house and stocking up the basement with food and water.  Hershel had made an abrupt turn-around in his attitude and now recognized that they were all better off together and was determined to share the space on the Greene farm with the Atlanta group.  Beth and Jimmy joined Lori and Maggie carrying items into the house while Daryl started working to fortify the barn and Shane moved off to set up places to keep watch around the farm.  The blonde spied Shane climbing the windmill carrying a board and figured out he was setting up a stand halfway up the structure.  Everyone was moving and working and getting things set up.  A couple hours later they’d moved all the supplies in from the Atlanta group’s vehicles and arranged things as neatly as they could before Rick and Daryl went out to get Randall to take the prisoner off and release him as far away from the farm as possible.

 

The shouts from Rick and Daryl after finding the prisoner gone drew everyone outside and they investigated trying to figure out where Randall had gone.  Daryl made sure none of the escapee’s prints went toward the house or another building where he could have hidden, but the hunter was confused because he could see another pair of boots that had walked up to the barn alone and then walked out again apparently with the young man they’d been holding captive.  He admitted the prints could have been made at different times, but that the positioning made it appear they were made by two men walking at the same time.  They all milled about talking and trying to decide on the best course of action when a bloodied Shane came out from a grove of trees yelling that Randall had escaped and Shane had given chase, but that the young man had attacked him and knocked him out for a minute.

 

Daryl and Rick looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking…Shane had probably six inches and more than thirty pounds on the young man and was in prime fighting form, but they both acknowledged that desperate people can do things that they wouldn’t normally be able to do, so they accepted Shane’s statements.  Daryl and Glenn went looking together while Rick went with Shane, but none of it mattered.  A couple hours later, the farm was overrun with walkers, the big barn and horse barn caught on fire and Patty was dead, literally ripped apart while holding  Beth’s hand until Lori yanked Beth out of her nominal aunt’s grip, hauled the young blonde away and shoved her into an old blue truck that T-Dog was driving.

 

It wasn’t until they found each other the next morning that Beth found out Jimmy had been ripped apart by walkers that got into the RV after she had gotten out of that vehicle to help the others.  She had to break the news about Patty to her father and Maggie and Lori told the others that they hadn’t been able to reach Andrea and confirmed that nobody else had been able to get to the former lawyer either.

 

They were all relieved to see Carol on the back of Daryl’s motorcycle as they’d seen her run and hadn’t known where she’d ended up.

 

Rick had a meltdown that night near the campfire, told them that Shane had attacked him before vanishing and added that if they stayed together it was no longer a democracy, effectively forced them to pull together as a unit.  It was terrifying, but necessary to give them a direction.  After things were out in the open and the decision made to stick together, Beth was surprised to find she felt a little better.  She’d half-expected Daryl to leave the group and his continued presence made her feel safer…she wasn’t sure what she would have done if he’d left.

 

o))O((o

 

After their first week on the road, Carl decided that he needed to be up on guard duty at night with his dad.  The ever-increasing distance between Lori and Rick meant that when Rick bedded down with Carl, Lori was still sleeping by herself at night.  After a couple nights of this, Lori asked Beth if she’d mind sleeping next to her, explaining to Beth and Hershel she just couldn’t sleep well without someone next to her.  Both Beth and Hershel could see the tall brunette was embarrassed to ask and Beth quickly agreed that they could try it for a few nights and see if it was comfortable for both of them.

 

Unbeknownst to either Beth or Lori, Hershel had a quiet word with Rick about the situation.  “You’re going to want to keep an eye on Romeo there,” Hershel warned, nodding toward where Carl was dogging Beth’s steps around camp.  “He may be young, but I don’t want him sleeping next to Beth at night with the excuse of being next to his mother.”

 

Rick nodded, “Thank you for letting me know.  I’ll keep an eye on Beth like she’s one of mine.”

 

After the first night, Beth and Lori found they didn’t need to discuss their sleeping arrangements.  They’d been both comfortable and each was comforted by the presence of the other.  They were both cuddlers and weren’t at all self-conscious about waking up snuggled together.  To Beth, it was a lot like sleeping with her mother or Maggie and to Lori it was surprisingly similar to sleeping with Carl.

 

A couple weeks later, about a week after they’d quietly celebrated Beth’s seventeenth birthday, Carl tried changing his mind and said he missed sleeping next to Lori, so Rick woke Beth, which briefly woke Lori, and helped the blonde move drowsily to sleep next to her father.  Carl glared at his dad, but realized he was trapped and settled next to his mother.  After that, the boy went back to pulling guard duty with his dad though he’d try moving from his spot at his father’s side to sleep with his mother and Beth once his dad dropped to sleep after their shift.  Rick awoke and stopped him most times and the one time the former deputy didn’t wake up, Carl found Daryl’s eyes fixed on him from his guard post and quickly flopped back down next to his dad.

 

The day after Daryl caught Carl trying to sneak over to join the women the bowman remarked “Got your hands full with that boy of yours.”  Rick looked up, flicking his eyebrows up in question, so Daryl continued, “Caught him trying to get over to his mom and Beth again last night.”

 

Rick sighed “I always try to catch him but must have been sleeping too hard.  Don’t know what I’m going to do once the hormones really kick in.  He’ll be twelve soon, but Beth’s already had her seventeenth birthday and I’m not sure how to break it to him that she’s only being nice to him like she is to everyone.  Even a year or two can be a huge age gap to a teenager and Beth’s mature for her age.”  Rick ran a hand over his face, “Carl not wanting to sleep with his mom caused this situation in the first place.”

 

Daryl eyed his friend thinking of the abyss that had developed between the former deputy and his wife and how she’d barely slept for a week after he’d completely given up sleeping near her after getting off guard duty.  “Girls seem to sleep better now.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t want anything to mess that up for them.  Hershel will put his foot down if he catches a hint of anything he doesn’t like.”

 

“Let Hershel talk with your boy” Daryl suggested with a little grin.

 

Rick looked at the younger man for a minute then started to grin, “I believe I will.”

 

At Rick’s prompting, Hershel had a talk with Carl later that morning while the women were cleaning the breakfast dishes, being as serious and intimidating as possible with the eleven-year-old.  Even Carl’s brashness didn’t withstand the old vet’s demand for respect for himself and his daughter.

 

Although they kept themselves out of Carl’s line of sight and the boy didn’t know they were there, both Rick and Daryl made sure they were close enough to hear the talking-to on the other side of the SUV from where they were hiding and trying not to laugh.  When it was over and Carl’s last “Yes, sir” said, the men escaped to chuckle and talk where they would not be overheard.

“Remind me not to get on Hershel’s bad side” Daryl snorted.

 

Rick shook his head “If Hershel talks like that with everyone who tries to court his daughter, Beth’s going to be single forever.”

 

“Not like she has a lot of choices now, is it?” Daryl said, in sudden realization.  Both men paused, Rick distinctly remembering Jimmy’s screams as he was literally torn apart as walkers overran the camper after he and Beth had rescued Rick and Carl from the roof of the burning barn.

 

“Way things are right now, I don’t want to let anyone else in either,” Rick admitted.  The few people they’d encountered before and since the farm weren’t people they wanted to encounter again.  Especially now with Lori pregnant and Carl still so young and vulnerable, he really wanted to avoid everyone else.

 

The rest of the day was busy.  They stopped in a small subdivision and cleared a few houses, having Beth wait out in the yard with Lori at each until the all clear was given.  The women stayed alert and Beth was the first to spy a small group of about seven walkers heading toward them when they were at the third house.  Beth pulled out the small knife she had as Lori shouted for help.  Beth moved between Lori and the walkers and was nearly knocked over when Rick and Daryl flew past them toward the walkers followed by Carol, Glenn and Maggie, all viciously swinging their much longer weapons.  One walker, more agile than its fellows, made its way toward Lori and Beth suddenly found herself moving forward, holding her knife as Daryl had shown her, jumping for some height and driving it as hard as she could into the walker’s temple as she knocked them both over, rolling away from the walker as she regained her feet.  The walker was still moving, the knife apparently too short to reach the part of the brain needed to kill it.  Beth darted in and grabbed the knife hilt and jerked it from the skull, then stabbed it down through its left eye, the top of the hilt sank into the socket and the walker finally stopped moving.  Beth looked around frantically for more attackers as she tried to pull the knife out, but the hilt was now slick with the walker’s blood and she couldn’t get a good grip.  She met Daryl’s eyes as the hunter reached her, grabbed her upright and turned her, checking for bites and scratches before calling “She’s okay!”

 

The announcement wasn’t met with the relief Beth would have expected, but instead Rick and Carol criticized her for putting herself in danger.  Even if the criticism wasn’t too severe, it was still enough for Beth to be hurt since she was just trying to keep Lori from getting hurt, just as any other member of their group would have done in the same situation.

 

Daryl wasn’t participating in the criticism; he’d retrieved her knife and examined it.  “Did really good with this little thing” he broke in after a minute, startling the others to silence.  He glanced around at the others, shrugged and added “Girl needs a longer knife to reach the brain more easily.  Even Carol’s knife is longer than this one.”

 

 “We don’t have anything else right now” Rick responded.  “Next time, just call someone,” he added firmly before turning away to get the group back in to the house, leaving Beth with her mouth literally hanging open at the unfairness of his statement.

 

Daryl had wiped the blade down with one of the rags he always had on him and handed it back to Beth as he walked past her, brushing her hand with his fingers and giving a little smile as he walked away.

 

Maggie grimaced in sympathy before turning on her heel and following Carol back toward the house, but Glenn gripped Beth’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze before he followed her sister back inside.

 

Lori smiled at Beth as the young blonde returned to her side and said “I thought you did great, Beth, but I could have just shot it.”

 

“Daryl always says that they’re drawn to noise and I didn’t want to bring more in.  I thought I was doing the right thing” Beth said bleakly and Lori reached over and held her hand for a minute before the all clear was called and they went in to help scavenge the house.

 

A couple days later they were clearing a house that didn’t seem to have very much worth saving when Daryl suddenly drew Beth aside and, with a small but triumphant smile, held up hunting knife in a plain, tan sheath.

 

“Can I?  Aren’t we supposed to show the group first?” Beth whispered.

 

“Nobody else needs it,” Daryl murmured back, shaking his head, “you need it.”  His hands were already on her belt buckle working it loose and Beth was shocked at the familiarity, but didn’t dare make a noise.  When the buckle was open, he undid the belt until he could slip off her current knife and slipped the larger one in place before re-doing the belt.  He knelt and buckled the strap to her leg, which would hold the knife in place if she had to run and made sure she knew how to slide off the loop on the top that held the knife in place.  They both smiled when it was firmly on.  “You don’t say anything to anyone else, just act like it’s always been there and maybe nobody will even notice for a few days and by then nobody will take it away.  We’ll look for more for our stores, but everyone else has at least one they like.”  He tucked the much smaller knife she had been carrying into her right boot.

 

He looked back at Beth’s face then and saw how soft her expression was; she was looking at him like he was the best thing she’d ever seen.  Daryl had never had anyone look at him that way before; he’d only seen it in a movie once.  His only thought at that moment was that he wanted to put that expression on her face as often as he could.  Before he could tell what she was going to do, she’d put her arms around his waist and hugged him close.  He still wasn’t used to her gestures of affection and wouldn’t have accepted them from anyone else, but managed to put his hands on her elbows in response and held them gently.

 

They stayed like that a few seconds, then moved apart.  Beth gave him another small smile, then moved on to finish searching the house before rejoining the others.  She stood toward the back of the group as she usually did and nobody seemed to notice her new weapon except for Carl, who reached out and touched the hilt with one finger and gave a little, satisfied nod before turning his attention back to his dad.

 

**o))O((o**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does sunshine have a smell? Yes, yes it does....

Daryl went on a hunting trip one morning and returned only a couple hours later feeling very lucky to have caught six squirrels and two rabbits so quickly.  Looking over the group, he realized he didn’t see Beth.  Nobody seemed to miss her, even Carl was hanging out near his mom and reading one of the comic books he’d probably already read at least a hundred times.  Daryl glared at the group, dropped the cleaned game off with Carol and went to tracking.  He found small boot prints leading away from the camp and followed, although he knew she could just have been using the bathroom. The rule was that everyone left in pairs. It really pissed him off that people overlooked Beth so easily that she could just walk away.

 

What the hell was wrong with them?  She had lost everyone and everything except her father and sister, including having the woman she’d known as an aunt her whole life literally ripped apart while the girl was still holding her hand.  Now her father was all wrapped up with Rick and his family and Maggie barely noticed anyone except Glenn. The most notice they’d taken of her since leaving the farm was to ask her to do things around camp.  He walked faster, finally spotting her shining head as she kneeled on the ground focused on something he couldn’t see.  His eyes ran over her small frame as he hurried to her and he was relieved to not spot any blood.

 

Knowing she was safe, his anger blazed up; he’d been so afraid they’d lost her.  He walked up and grabbed her shoulder, causing her to gasp and jerk away from him, falling on her butt in the dirt.

 

“Daryl!” she gasped, then looked at the expression on his face. “What’s wrong?  Did something happen?”

 

He could see her fear building and almost wanted to prolong it, but instead ground out, “What are you doing on your own, girl?  You got a death wish?”

 

Her face fell and she said quietly, “What? Daryl, no!  Nobody had anything for me to do in camp…you were the only one doing anything.  I want to help, too, and look…just look!”  She levered herself back onto her knees and unfolded the neck of a large bag she had with her.  There were several large cabbages, a number of potatoes, a bunch of onions, ears of corn and mushrooms that Daryl recognized as being safe and green plants he didn’t recognize.

 

“Where’d you find all that?” he asked in astonishment, wondering exactly how far she’d wandered off, how long she’d been gone and how the hell nobody could have noticed.

 

“This morning when we were washing the breakfast dishes I thought I saw a fence and I wanted to go check it out and there was a garden on the other side.  The house looks burned out now, but whoever was living there planted a garden last spring.  A lot of the plants have gone to seed, but it’s the right time of year for potatoes and the rest.”  Beth gestured around her at the few mushrooms left in her area, “I was getting some of the mushrooms here.  Everything you’ve been getting for us has been incredible and we’re so lucky, but the vegetables are good too and I just wanted to do something for the group.  I even found some sorrel near the edge of the woods that will be nice and lemony.”

 

She had brightened while talking with him about her finds, but suddenly stopped and looked from his eyes down to her hands, twisting them in her lap as her shoulders slumped at the expression on his face.  “I was really careful…” she started.

 

“You were really stupid,” Daryl broke in.  “You just left without telling anyone where you were going, you have to have been gone a while and you knew we were going to hit the road once I got done hunting.  You could have been left behind and nobody would ever have known what happened to you.”  He was so scared he was letting it come out as fury and was barely keeping his voice down.

 

She looked up at him with tears in her big, blue eyes.  His breath caught a little and then he was right in front of her, pulling her into his arms; he didn’t kiss her, just hugged her close, rubbing her back as she clung to him in return.  After a while he pulled back, leaned his forehead against hers, breathed her in for another minute, then pushed her back further, giving them both space.

 

The young woman frowned, and started to say something, but he cut her off. “Come on, let’s get back.  I got meat for tonight but all this will be welcome.”  He leaned over and grabbed the bag with his free hand, the crossbow slung across his back knocking him gently as he straightened.

 

When they were almost back to the camp, he tugged her hand to get her attention.  When her eyes met his, he leaned in and growled quietly “You don’t go wandering off on your own again, not ever.  Promise.”

 

“I just wanted to help….”

 

“Never again…promise me.”

 

She sighed and met his eyes with quiet sincerity, “I promise, Daryl.”  She slipped her hand out of his and walked quietly back into camp, moving around trees and vehicles so that she was partially hidden and nobody seemed to notice her return any more than they’d seemed to notice her absence.  Daryl stayed in the trees and walked around the camp until he was near Carol, then walked to her and handed over the bag with the vegetables.  She looked up, exclaiming over the fresh produce and thanking him for it on top of the fresh meat he’d already provided.  He gave her a small shake of his head and a quick hand gesture to cut off her thanks then explained about the nearby farm.  Everything was soon loaded up and they were back on the road again.

 

o))O((o

 

When they’d been back on the road a few more days, Daryl returned with several rabbits that were dressed and skinned and handed them to Carol.  Hershel was nearby and said “No offense, Carol, but why don’t you take a break and let Beth cook the rabbits today?  Her mother showed her how to do it a couple years ago and I’d love to taste it again.  We have oil, flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder, so she can fry it and make gravy like Annette did.”

 

Daryl’s mouth watered at the idea of fried rabbit and gravy and he could barely keep the hopeful expression off his face looking at Carol.  She was a good cook, but just roasting the meat on the lean animals he normally found often made them dry.  He was relieved when she nodded and said she’d start peeling the potatoes Daryl had found the other day so that they could have them with the meat and gravy.

 

Hershel had caught Beth’s eye and she came over to see what they needed and immediately complied with the request to cook.  Daryl moved to clean his weapons and keep watch over the women while they worked on the food.  He talked quietly with Carol as his eyes moved restlessly and Hershel spoke softly with Beth over near the fire.

 

It was the best meal Daryl had had since the farm.  Everyone seemed relatively relaxed and pleased at the end of it and Carol declared that Beth was free to do the cooking any time she wanted to.  It had given her a little bit of a break and she’d been happy to share the duties with someone.  Strong cooking smells often made Lori sick at that point in her pregnancy and she hadn’t been able to help Carol for a week or so.  Beth was almost glowing from the pleasure of feeling useful and needed after being largely ignored or treated as fragile and determined she’d do whatever she could to be responsible and useful to the group.

 

o))O((o

 

Beth was trying to be very careful and not go off on her own, but a few mornings later while she was washing dishes with Carol and Lori, she spotted blackberry canes loaded down with ripe berries.  They had brought clothes to do some laundry and Beth grabbed one of Daryl’s flannel shirts that still had the sleeves and put it on over her tank top to protect her arms from the brambles.  She called to the other women where she’d be and took a large pot with her to begin picking berries.  For some time she could hear Lori and Carol’s soft voices as they talked while doing laundry and Beth picked the ripe fruit as quickly as she could, humming softly to herself as she got into the rhythm of the task and dreamed about the pies and jams her mother used to make with the sweet-tart berries and how good the house would smell at those times.  When the pot was full, she suddenly realized she didn’t hear the other women anymore and looked around frantically for her companions.  Her stomach dropped as she realized they’d left and she was alone in the woods and had no idea how long she’d been out there completely unaware of her surroundings.  She shot to her full height and looked around frantically, relieved to find she couldn’t spot any walkers.  She picked up the full pot and headed back toward the vehicles, thinking “Stupid! That was so stupid!”

 

Worried about making too much noise, she tried to remember how she’d seen Daryl move and how soundlessly he could walk through the forest and tried to imitate him, slipping quietly through the trees. As if her thoughts had called him, the redneck suddenly appeared from behind a tree and was in her path, glaring at her.

 

Beth nearly dropped the full pot at the expression on his face.  Before he could say anything, she hissed, “Lori and Carol left me on my own!  I told them where I was going to be and they still left.” He just shook his head at her, still looking furious, then turned and headed back with long strides.   She tried to follow in his footsteps, to keep down the noise she was making, but couldn’t match his stride.  After a few tries, her forward foot suddenly slipped and nearly did a split, coming down hard on her back leg and barely managing to bang the pot down on its bottom so it didn’t tip over.  The hunter whipped around and was instantly by her side asking “You all right?”

 

“I…I think so.... Help me up?” Beth asked, reaching for him and looping her arm around his neck as he put an arm around her waist and helped her up.  The blonde moved her right leg carefully, flexing the knee, reassuring herself it was not sprained or strained.  “It’s okay” she sighed in relief “just pulled a little.”  She took her arm from his neck and rested her hand on his arm for a second before bending and picking up the pot.

 

When she straightened, she noticed Daryl was now looking at her with an odd expression.  “What?” she asked, squeezing his arm with the hand that still rested on him.

 

Instead of saying anything, he reached out and touched the flannel shirt she wore.  She suddenly thought she understood and blushed “I’m sorry!  It didn’t get washed today.  I needed something to protect my arms.  I’ll wash it myself next time, okay?”

 

“’K” he mumbled, “Need it back for now, though.”  He couldn’t picture any good coming from them going back to the camp together with Beth wearing one of his shirts and with grass and dirt stains on her knees and butt.

 

“Oh, sure” she stammered, slipping it off awkwardly, shifting the pot from hand to hand, then handed the flannel to him.

 

Daryl took the shirt and tied it around his waist by the sleeves.  As he turned to resume walking he said, “Just stick to my footsteps and be quiet; killed several walkers coming to find you.”

 

“All right, Daryl, but could you take shorter steps, please?”  He turned back and stared at her, so she added, “I’m smaller than you and I can’t keep up with your steps when you stretch out your legs.”

 

He remained silent, but when he resumed walking, his stride was shorter and she was able to keep up and stay close.  When they reached camp they slipped in and Beth took the berries to Carol, who exclaimed over them, then suddenly looked sick.  “I forgot” she gasped.  “Beth, I forgot you were picking berries!  You just got back?”

 

Beth nodded.  “It’s okay, Carol” she said quietly.  “I’m safe.  Everything worked out and at least now we all have fresh fruit.”

 

Carol wiped a shaking hand over her mouth and nodded “Okay, but we’ll all have to be more careful.  Lori and I may have been wrong, but you should have been paying attention too.” Her words were a little harsh, but Carol said them gently and Beth nodded.

 

“I know. I will.  We have to look out for each other as well as ourselves or this won’t work well.” Beth acknowledged; then added “Do you need any help with anything?”

 

“Yes,” Carol instantly responded, setting some tasks for Beth that were necessary before the group moved on for the day.

 

That night, Daryl took an extra piece of rabbit when he got his plate and slipped it onto Beth’s plate, which had only some beans and berries on it since she’d made sure everyone else ate before her and had given her father the last piece of meat.  Daryl gave her the stink eye until she gave him a small smile and started eating the meat.  She’d always been small, but especially that morning, he’d felt the bones of her spine through the shirts she wore and he’d seen her pushing extra food on her father, Lori and Carl and couldn’t sit by anymore.  Nobody else seemed to notice the interaction as Beth and Daryl were often on the fringes of the group, unless Carol drew Daryl in deliberately to sit next to her.  This evening she sat closer to the fire with the others while Daryl had claimed watch to stay on the edge and closer to the youngest Greene.  He’d done the same thing several times, taking extra food and making sure she ate it instead of giving it away like she would have otherwise.

 

He’d been angered to find her missing that morning and had mentally cussed her in every creative way he could think of on his way to find her; still, he’d overheard what Carol had said to Beth and knew what had happened wasn’t all the little blonde’s fault.  He was determined he’d find a way to keep her safe, if he could, but she was so quiet that others missed her and he worried that one day she’d be left behind and all he’d find would be blood and her body come back as a walker’s.

 

When he lay down to try to sleep that night, he couldn’t get Hershel’s younger daughter out of his mind.  He almost felt like she was there with him, although he knew she was across the fire where she’d be sleeping between Carol and Lori.  He lifted his head and noticed Carl going over and talking to his mother and Beth, then tried to settle again.  After a while, he realized the shirt stuffed in the opening of the pack he also used as his pillow was the one Beth had worn that day.  He pulled it out and sniffed it thoughtfully; it still smelled like him, but it also smelled of her, like vanilla and…did sunshine have a smell?  He snorted in disgust at himself for the thought and stuffed the offending garment back into his bag, then tried again to settle down.  After a minute, he pulled the shirt back out, re-folded it and placed it directly under his head on top of the pack.  The fresh scent was kind of soothing, he decided right before he went to sleep.

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fire, Carl hugged Beth goodnight and wrinkled his nose, “You kind of smell like Daryl…that’s weird” the pre-teen said with a small scowl.  Beth laughed, not wanting to tell about borrowing the hunter’s shirt earlier and having to relay the story of the events of that morning.

 

“That is weird” she agreed.  “You know, before the turn, I used to wear this perfume I loved that smelled like bluebells.  It was so girly…you would have probably hated it, so you should be grateful I don’t smell like that all the time now.”  She grinned at the boy “Goodnight, Carl.”

 

“G’night, Beth.”

 

Lori had overheard the exchange and smiled to herself.  Carl had developed a huge crush on the younger Greene daughter and Lori thought he was showing some signs of jealousy.  “Come on, Carl.  I’m going to say goodnight to your dad before I go to bed.  Goodnight, Beth.  Goodnight, Carol,” the brunette added, standing up as the older woman came over to settle on Beth’s other side.

 

Carl veered off to get something out of one of the vehicles and Lori walked to where Rick and Hershel were talking quietly.

 

“What is it?” Rick smiled at her, looking at her amused face.  They rarely had a pleasant interaction just between themselves anymore and he felt grateful for one.

 

“You’ve noticed Carl’s got that crush on Beth, right?” Lori chucked.  “It may be reaching epic proportions.”

 

Rick and Hershel both smiled widely.  “What makes you say that?” Rick asked.

 

“He was questioning Beth about her and Daryl.  I don’t think those two have said two words to each other since we all came together unless it was absolutely necessary.”  They all laughed quietly at the thought of Carl’s wild accusation; then talked quietly for a few more minutes.

 

When Lori went back to her bedding, she eased down next to Beth, groaning a little at how good it felt to rest her pregnant frame on the blankets as she scooted closer to the blonde for warmth.  Right before she went to sleep, she thought she caught a hint of leather and motor oil that did really smell like Daryl, but laughed to herself for the ideas Carl was putting in her head.

 

**o))O((o**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have to have had a few scores, right?

After what Beth now privately referred to as the Blackberry Bumble, she was careful to tell whoever she was with what she was doing and that she wouldn’t leave without telling them and made sure that they responded in kind.  It helped that Carl had started dogging her footsteps in a way that Beth alternately found amusing and incredibly annoying, although she remained outwardly sweet and patient with everyone, including the boy.  She admitted to herself that he was helpful with the foraging and other stuff out of his desire to please her and there was the added advantage that at least one of the others always tried to keep an eye on him.  Still, she was usually at least a little relieved when he found something else to do for a while.

 

“You have a shadow,” Maggie teased her one day when the sisters were taking a bathroom break together and watching each other’s backs.

 

“So do you,” Beth joked back quietly, not wanting to be overheard by Glenn, who was probably nearby.  “You don’t seem to mind yours, though” she added with a grin.

 

Maggie laughed “I don’t, not even a little bit.” Both sisters were still teasing and giggling quietly when they got back to camp, but quickly resumed their responsibilities after a brief, tight hug.

 

o))O((o

 

They were loaded up for the day and everyone was preparing to get into the vehicles.  Carol had long since begged off riding on the back of the motorcycle due to the cooler weather and was now riding in the vehicle with Glenn, Maggie and T-Dog normally, though Carol and Beth switched off sometimes.  The larger SUV usually held Rick and Hershel in the front seats and Lori, Carl and Beth in the back seat, but Lori had said that morning that she was in pain and needed to lie down that day.  Carl had moved to the other SUV, much to his parent’s dismay, but Daryl suspected it was mostly because Beth had been told to move to that vehicle and the pre-teen’s crush on the blonde was still going strong.

 

The teenager wasn’t complaining, but Daryl could see in her face that she was unhappy at the prospect of being cooped up in a vehicle with so many other people for the day.  T-Dog had offered to let her sit on his lap since there really wasn’t room for four people across in the back seat and the rear of the vehicle was crammed with supplies and it was either that or Carl would have to sit in someone’s lap, which would make him miserable.  Maggie sat up front with Glenn but insisted Beth couldn’t sit with her because she needed to be able to help Glenn watch the road and shoot, if necessary.

 

Daryl watched Beth’s quiet face and found himself calling her over and offering her the bitch seat on his bike.  He’d seen her eyeing the motorcycle in the past and knew she wanted to ride with him, but he’d never offered in the past because he wasn’t sure how Hershel would react.  The girl’s eyes lit up and a huge smile spread across her face.

 

“I’d love to, thank you!”

 

“Gonna’ need a better coat than what you got,” he said, suddenly realizing she just wore a cotton shirt over a T-shirt.

 

Hershel had heard their exchange and came over, shrugging out of his coat and handing it to his youngest.  “I’ll be okay in the car, you wear this, Bethy and be careful, both of you.”  Hershel met Daryl’s eyes evenly over Beth’s head as she shrugged into the coat, which was adorably huge on her, before hugging the blonde tightly then letting her go.

 

Daryl met Hershel’s eyes equally and gave the older man a brief nod, before tugging Beth’s knit hat more securely around her ears.  He got on the bike and pointed out where she’ll put her feet when she gets on, then held her hand while she climbed on behind him.  He made sure she was in position, told her to hold on tight as he pulled his arms around him to show how tight and to lean with him and then they were off as Rick and Glenn signaled their readiness.

 

She’d been holding on tightly before he started, but when he took off he felt her arms tighten even more as the movement startled her and he laughed a little bit to himself.  He’d wondered if she’d ever ridden on the back of a motorcycle; he’d been able to tell her sister had, but now he knew Beth hadn’t ever gone off with a bad boy and disobeyed her father.  He could tell she was a natural at riding, though, flowing easily with him as he wove around the occasional obstacle.

 

He could feel her smiling against his back as they rode.  Although they didn’t try to talk, as she got more comfortable, he would feel her tap his stomach or briefly lift her fingers to point at something interesting.  He did the same to her, tapping the hand on the side where he wanted her to look and feeling her look and smile as she spied whatever it was.

 

After a couple hours, Rick signaled a stop and everyone stopped at the next clear spot in the road.  There were a few other cars in sight, but no walkers.  Lori immediately got out and headed for the trees and Beth climbed off, nearly fell at first, then followed after the older woman on wobbly legs, reminding him strongly of a newborn fawn taking its first steps.  Daryl chuckled, knowing how the vibration of the bike messed with women and how sore first-timers could get.  He climbed off himself and greeted T-Dog who was heading his way with the gas cans and lengths of hose so they could try to siphon gas.  Daryl grabbed one of the cans and a hose and handed T one of the screwdrivers from the saddlebags on the bike to pry open the covers to the gas tanks.

 

He watched for Beth and saw her emerge with Lori after a few minutes; the women were talking animatedly, but he saw Lori cut Beth off and walk toward the main group.  He signaled the blonde to come help check the vehicles for salvageable items.  As she drew close, he could see the small frown between her eyes.  Daryl wasn’t going to ask figuring it was something between her and Lori, but T-Dog wasn’t far away and had also noted the expression and asked the girl what was wrong.

 

Beth replied “I think there’s a road over there…it looks like there are some buildings, maybe a few stores…I said I thought we should get a better look, but Lori wanted to come straight back.”

 

Daryl spoke at once “She’s right…you don’t need to wander off from the group like that without telling people.”

 

“I didn’t mean go all the way over to the buildings, I just wanted to get a bit closer and see what’s there and if it could be worth finding a way over.  Everything we’ve found close to the road for a while now has been pretty picked over and we’re really short on supplies.”

 

T-Dog nodded toward Daryl, “She’s right, at least we could see what they are and if it would be worthwhile.  Did they look far, Beth?”

 

“Not too bad, T…maybe…a football field from where we were?  There’s a rise before it goes down again and we couldn’t really see much from where we were, even with so many leaves down, but not too far.”  She squinted down the highway, “I can’t tell…does that look like a road connecting down there?  It’s awfully overgrown.”

 

The men eyed the spot and Daryl grunted, “Maybe, Beth; let’s finish scavenging these cars, then we’ll go talk with the others.”

 

The three of them continued to work on the cars in their area until they were satisfied, managing to fill both gas cans and the motorcycle’s tank as well as finding a few canned goods, over-the-counter painkillers and an unopened box of Twinkies, which Beth immediately hid in one of Daryl’s saddlebags, with a wink at the men, to be brought out as a surprise later.

 

Beth ran back to the SUVs and grabbed a box so that she could load the cans and painkillers up and Daryl looked at T and asked why he’d thought to ask the teen what was on her mind.

 

T-Dog gave him a thoughtful look “Been living with her for a couple months now, man.  Girl hardly talks unless someone asks her something directly, unless it’s to ask someone if she can help or say something to encourage them.  Never hear her complain about anything and she only frowns when something’s bothering her or she’s thinking of something.  People dismiss her all the time, but she notices just about everything and thinks about what she sees.  She’ll tell you what’s on her mind if you just ask her, most people just don’t ask her.”

 

Beth was almost back to them with the box, so their conversation ended, but it gave Daryl something to consider.  He’d been guilty of dismissing Beth himself, although he liked what he knew of her now that she didn’t seem to be set on killing herself.  When she’d loaded the box the three of them walked back to the other vehicles and she loaded the box in the back of the larger SUV while the men filled the tanks from the cans they’d filled, then they all joined the rest of the group.

 

Daryl brought up the buildings Beth had seen and suggested that at he and one or two others go check to see if they would be worth investigating.  Glenn and T volunteered to go with him before Beth surprised them by asking to be allowed to go as well; however, Hershel and Maggie both objected to her request and Rick backed them up firmly.  Beth looked downcast, but quietly accepted their decision, only looking wistfully at the group of men going to investigate the shops.

 

The scavengers were quiet on their way over, not sure what to expect.  When they saw the restaurant and small line of shops that looked relatively untouched, their hopes went up a little bit.  What they had thought could be a connecting road wasn’t and it seemed possible not many people had come over and investigated the shops.  The sign over one read “Kountry Korner,” but, while the name was awful and kitschy, the store itself turned out to still have a number of bags of stone-ground grits that were sealed in plastic and not infested with bugs; a good bit of candy in barrels and baskets; canisters of roasted and salted peanuts and pecans and all kinds of jams, jellies and preserves. There were also sealed bags and boxes of “gourmet” cookies and crackers.

 

For people who had been subsisting on small servings of meats and vegetables with very little fat or any kind of carbohydrate or sweet, this was welcome and the men were truly excited about their finds.  They pulled out some large cloth bags they had brought with them that they had found on a previous visit to a big box store and loaded them with as many useful items as they could carry.  They each slipped several packs of playing cards into their pockets and added a couple cloth checkerboards with checkers stored in resealable bags to their supplies and headed back outside.

 

There was a restaurant, a knitting shop that still seemed to be locked, a small clothing store and a store with quilts, blankets and pillows that the group also badly needed.  The men shouldered the loaded bags and hurried back to the rest of the group to let them know of their finds.  Everyone was excited about the supplies, the addition of some heartier carbohydrates back into their diet and the idea of more clean quilts and blankets.  They moved the larger vehicles closer to where they’d walked through the woods, then left Beth and Carl behind to watch the vehicles as everyone else grabbed canvas bags and walked back through the woods to the stores and restaurant.

 

They didn’t find too many walkers…the restaurant had a few, all of which seemed to be people who had worked there, from their clothing, but there were a few large, untouched cans of vegetables and tomato sauce, a few containers of spices, salt, pepper, six large boxes of dried pasta and even some canned milk.  The clothing store didn’t seem to have men’s clothing, but Maggie, Lori and Carol all took items and everyone grabbed any blankets and quilts they could carry.  Carol looked longingly at the yarn store and Maggie commented that Beth would like it too because she knew how to knit and crochet, which settled it for Daryl.  He broke in to that shop as well and grabbed some big bags for Carol, Maggie and himself as they took kits with various sizes of needles and hooks, scissors, things Carol grabbed that Daryl had no idea what they were, pattern books and skein after skein of different yarns until the bags couldn’t hold anymore.

 

Everyone was loaded down and in a great mood when they went back to the vehicles.  Beth and Carl both looked relieved (and still kind of pissed off) to see the others return with such a good haul, but held their posts, keeping watch for walkers and strangers as the others happily unloaded and Lori confiscated some of the newly acquired quilts and pillows for the backseat of her vehicle.  Maggie came around the vehicle holding a tan colored suede, padded jacket for Beth that she put on in place of Hershel’s too-large coat, which he gratefully took back.  Just as everyone was ready to get moving again and Daryl and Beth had fallen into step to go back to the bike, Carol walked past and squeezed his arm and said “That was such a great find, Daryl, thank you so much!  I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl saw Beth roll her eyes, but her huff was so soft even he barely heard it.  “Hey,” he said, “you’re going to hurt yourself rolling your eyes that hard.  I told them you’d spotted the buildings and T and I both wanted to check them out.  I didn’t say I found them.”

 

A small giggle escaped her and she glanced at him before looking back toward the bike, “I heard what you said this morning, it’s not that.”  They were beside the motorcycle now and she was waiting for him to get on.

 

“You did great,” he said quietly as he hooked his crossbow onto the special mounts he’d welded onto the motorcycle, (Merle was going to beat his ass over those if they ever saw each other again); then straightened and looked down at the young woman.

 

Beth grinned up at him, “Thanks, Daryl.  I appreciate you and T not dismissing them just because it was me who saw them...it means a lot to me that you still wanted to check them out.”

 

There was still something a little sad and a little angry in her eyes, so he nudged her gently “Out with it, Little Bit.”

 

“Some of the others had a problem with Carl and me going to the stores, but then you all left us alone to defend ourselves and everything we own in this world against walkers and any people who came our way… _by ourselves_.”

 

He felt the teasing immediately leave his face…he’d noticed several dead walkers around the vehicles when they’d returned, but neither Beth nor Carl had seemed troubled and the sight was so common he hadn’t given it much thought.

 

Her expression was serious now, too, not teasing anymore “I’m always being told it’s too dangerous for me to do this or that and then I’m left behind with just Carl or just Lori and a knife or an axe against God knows what while the rest of you traipse off in a group.  How much more dangerous would it be for us to help clear a house or go check a store than guarding a bunch of stuff people would take in a heartbeat?  _Anything_ could have happened and you all would have been too far away to help, but somehow leaving us behind seems to equal us being safe in your minds, even if it’s right by the side of the road where anyone could have gone past.”

 

Daryl was pretty sure he was turning pink, but hoped it wasn’t too noticeable.  Now that he thought about it, what she’d said made perfect sense “I’ll talk to your dad and Rick next chance, okay?”

 

He mounted up and tried to ignore the warm feeling he got from the small hand on his shoulder as she used it to steady herself as she clambered on behind him.  It occurred to him that he’d never once liked having his ideas dismissed because of superficial things like his age or how he dressed or the fact that most people just regarded him as an ignorant redneck and he felt for the young woman who was put aside for her youth and size.

 

After that first time, Daryl often invited Beth to ride on the back of his bike almost every day and she would take him up on it; however, sometimes Carol would ask to ride and he would take her when she asked, although as they got further into the fall she usually ended up complaining about the cold partway through the day and getting back into one of the vehicles.  Daryl couldn’t help but note that Beth never complained about the weather, just seemed to appreciate being out of the crowded vehicles and she was a good riding companion so he asked her before anyone else and she always said yes.

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another group tries to capture some of the women and later Lori, Maggie and Carol have a talk with Beth (who's fairly innocent in this story). I don't get explicit, but I thought I'd put in a warning anyway....

The weather in Georgia in the spring and fall is unreliable and they had a night that was unseasonably warm and the next morning was warm and mild.  After washing the breakfast dishes, the women decided to take the opportunity to bathe in the river since it was deep enough, even though it was cold.  Maggie ran back to the camp to let the men know what they were doing and, when she returned, with shampoo, soap and towels, they all stripped down and entered the water.  There was a large, flat rock in the middle of the river and Carol and Lori both took their guns and put them there to keep them near and dry while they all got clean.  They all washed quickly due to the icy water and Maggie helped Beth wash and rinse her long hair before doing her own. 

 

Beth headed back to the shore once she was clean because the water was too cold for her to stay any longer.  She’d just grabbed a towel when she heard the other women start screaming and then someone grabbed her and started running with her slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Beth heard shots and screaming and was screaming herself, terrified of what was happening.  She managed to loosen one of her legs from the man’s grasp and kicked him as hard as she could from her awkward position.  She heard the man grunt and he fell with her tangled partway under him.

 

“Bitch…” the man groaned, grabbing at her as Beth continued to struggle, pushing his head away from her.  Suddenly, a bolt appeared in the man’s temple and Beth gasped as his full weight collapsed on her, recognizing the fletching as Daryl’s.  The hunter’s face appeared over her assailant’s shoulder as he closed the distance and grabbed the back of the man’s shirt and hauled him off of the young blonde.

 

“Jesus, Beth” Daryl grated, seeing her completely naked form exposed.  He glanced around them, then set down his bow and shrugged out of his vest and pulled his sleeveless shirt over his head.  “Put this on” he added, tossing it to her before shrugging back into the vest.  His heart was racing from both fear and the chase and he was sweating just from the memory of her body and the need to hold her and make sure she was really there and okay.

 

She stood, wincing as she did so, feeling the scrapes she’d received from twigs and rocks after the man fell on her, turned her back to Daryl and tried to brush herself off before slipping into Daryl’s shirt, which came about halfway down her thighs.  “You’re bleeding,” he said when he looked back at her, seeing it seeping down her legs.  His fingers itched to grab her and check her over and his head was starting to ache from denying himself.

 

“I’m all scraped up, but I don’t think any of them are too bad.  Maggie can look when we get back.”  Her eyes got huge as she looked up at him, “We’ve got to get back and make sure they’re okay!”

 

He nodded, “Let’s go.”  After a few steps he realized she was limping from the rocks and twigs on her bare feet, but he couldn’t pick her up after what had happened.  There could still be more from that other group and the blood from her cuts was going to draw in every walker that had been attracted to the gunshots from the conflict with the others.  He led her as carefully as he could to help her avoid rocks, but he was also trying to be quiet and hurry.

 

When they got back to where they’d been bathing, the other men were already dead and Maggie, Lori and Carol were dressed.  Maggie ran to them when she saw her sister in Daryl’s wake and hugged her close, then fussed about the blood and scrapes.  Hershel came over and hugged her as well, then all the men and Carl turned their back and let the women check over the petite blonde while listening to her story and telling their own.  Carol and Lori had both killed several men who were trying to get to them, then the men had taken out the rest, not giving them a chance to explain anything.

 

None of Beth’s wounds were deep and Maggie helped her wash off the blood, dirt and leaves then get dried and dressed.  Hershel asked her to ride with them so he could have her close and he allowed Carl to have the front seat while he climbed into the back, Beth between himself and Lori.  Lori pulled out a comb and gently worked the tangles out of Beth’s hair while the blonde leaned against Hershel’s shoulder and her father talked to her quietly, patted her leg and occasionally leaned over and kissed her hair.

 

Lori had a good idea of how innocent Beth was and how little she could have guessed about the things that could have happened if the man had gotten away with her that morning.  After thinking and worrying all day, she pulled Beth aside after supper that night and had a detailed talk with her about what men bent on violence could do to a woman.  She had started the talk away from the men, but close enough to the other women that both Maggie and Carol got involved.  By the end of the talk Beth felt as though God had put targets all over her body and then failed to give her the strength to defend them properly.

 

Not long after as most of the others were getting settled that night, Beth was still too keyed up to sleep.  She looked around and saw Daryl was sitting near one of the trucks cleaning his crossbow again.  Without thinking about it too hard, the young blonde went over and sat next to him, tucking her knees close to her chest and wrapping her arms around her calves, her side touching his arm.

 

The hunter looked at her out of the corner of his eyes; he could feel her shaking against him and brought his head out of the hole in the old horse blanket he wore as a poncho and tossed part of it over her, leaving the rest loose in his lap so he could keep working on his bow.  He’d seen the other women talking with her earlier and had caught some of the conversation.  “They scare you?” he asked quietly and wasn’t surprised when she nodded, her gaze flicking up at him before returning to the fire.

 

“They…they told me about what those men could have done to me…with a lot of details…” her voice was so soft and hesitant he could barely hear her.

 

He sighed, “You might need to know that, but don’t dwell on it.  We’d all do anything to keep you safe.”

 

“Will you train me more?  Rick and Shane showed Patty and me how to shoot a little bit at the farm and I can swing the axe I use on watch if there’s a walker and use a knife a little, but if there were a lot of walkers or another person….”

 

“I’ll train you more when we have time and a place to do it.  If we have time, I’ll show you how to hold your knife better tomorrow and I’ll talk with them again about letting you come when we clear.  Don’t have enough people to leave anyone out anyway.”

 

“Thank you, Daryl.” Her voice still sounded a little watery to him, so he started telling her a story about one time he and Merle went to a fair and the trouble they’d gotten into.  Merle had been in his twenties and home on leave from the military and Daryl in his teens at the time.  Not everything in the story was probably appropriate for a girl who’d been as sheltered as Beth had been before the Turn, but parts of it were funny and he had an idea that all she really wanted was to be close to him and hear him talk about anything that didn’t involve what could have happened to her that morning.  After a few minutes her head fell onto his shoulder, so he stopped cleaning the bow and laid it aside and just continued talking quietly, pulling his part of the poncho up around his chest and shoulders.  Another couple minutes and he could tell she was fast asleep, so he put his arm around her, tucking part of the poncho more securely around her and leaned back against the tire behind his back, intending to get up in a minute to carry her over to her blankets, which were next to Lori.  T-Dog had watch that night after Rick and Daryl was looking forward to a few hours of uninterrupted rest.

 

That night was colder than the one before and the combined heat of their bodies was pleasant under the poncho.  More than that, the events of that morning had scared him too, although he hadn’t wanted to admit it to the young woman, so it was comforting to have her tucked up safely next to him.  Although he’d known she was being well cared-for in the SUV with the Grimeses and her dad, he’d missed having her on the bike with him all day where he would have been able to check on her himself.  He sighed and closed his eyes.

 

The next time he opened them it was to see Hershel and Rick bedded down nearby.  He had his arms around something and looked down to see a light blonde head tucked against his chest in a spot that just seemed made for it.  Her whole body felt like it had been created just to fit against his, he realized, running a hand over her back and pulling back a little bit to look at her better.  Her body just followed his though, snuggling closer again and nuzzling back into her spot.  His arms tightened a little and she made a small noise before relaxing again.  He realized she had his vest fisted in her little hands…and his heart and balls too, if his feelings were anything to go by.

 

After another moment realized with Hershel and Rick so close that there was no way their sleeping arrangements had gone unnoticed, but he did know he needed to get up before Beth woke up and realized his morning situation.  She was fitted so tightly to him that he didn’t think he could get up without waking her and every minute he was awake with her right up against him the worse things were getting for him.  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, praying for control and trying to decide what to do and when he opened them again a few seconds later he found himself looking into Hershel’s eyes, which didn’t look nearly as enraged as he’d expected.

 

The older man looked at him and the growing desperation on his face and simply reached over and nudged his daughter’s shoulder until she rolled slightly away from Daryl, letting go of his vest, her head coming to rest on her dad’s arm, “Hmmmm?” she hummed softly, not opening her eyes and rolling further to tuck up closer to her dad.  Hershel smiled slightly and looked back at Daryl, who rose soundlessly, leaving the poncho over her before nodding to the older man and heading toward the trees.  The old vet’s reaction wasn’t at all what Daryl would have expected from the young woman’s father, but he was deeply grateful for it.

 

Everyone was up when Daryl returned, Beth over with Carol helping prepare breakfast while the others worked to down the camp.  Daryl walked over to where Hershel was packing his bag and said quietly, “She came over last night because the other women had told her what could have happened to her if those men had taken her and got her all upset.  I was going to carry her back over next to Lori…didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

 

“I saw what happened, son.  I didn’t know what they’d talked to Beth about, but I can tell when my daughters are upset.  Saw her fall asleep on you and you followed her seconds after you tipped your head back…probably never knew what hit you.  Both of you just sort of slid down after a few minutes and that was it.  You barely stirred the rest of the night.  I don’t want you to make a habit of it, but I understand what happened last night.”  Hershel picked up Daryl’s neatly-folded poncho and handed it to him.

 

Daryl nodded and said, “Won’t make a habit of it, but we didn’t mean it to happen last night and I can’t promise for sure it won’t happen again.”

 

Hershel nodded and looked at the younger man evenly, “Happens too often, son, I’m going to have to ask you about your intentions toward my Beth and I truly hope I’m happy with your answer when that time comes.  I may not be as fast as you, but I’m pretty good with this shotgun.”

 

“I'm not good enough...."

 

“Those rules don’t’ apply anymore, son.” The older man cut him off, “You’ve proven yourself a good man time and again and one day I’ll tell you about my father and my own history.  I can see where you’d have the idea that you’re not good enough, but I can tell you that you are and hope you can see it for yourself one day.”

 

Daryl shifted, uncomfortable with the thought and the conversation. “I promise for now my only intention is to be her friend, but that time comes and you don’t like my answer, you won’t have to chase me down.  You find her, you’ll find me.”

 

Hershel nodded and clapped the younger man on the shoulder.  “I’m going to hold you to that” he said as they walked to join the others and have breakfast.

 

They didn’t have any time for training after breakfast as Glenn spotted a large herd of walkers just as they finished eating, so dirty dishes and pots were thrown into boxes in the back of the larger SUV and everyone got into or onto their vehicles and took off.  Still, any chance they had after that, Daryl worked with Beth on her knife grip and form and showed her a couple dirty tricks Merle had shown him long ago when he was still too small to defend himself on strength alone.

 

The next night was colder again and Beth was knitting the second sock to a pair she was making for Daryl out of soft medium gray superwashed wool when Lori plopped down next to her after watching her knit for a few minutes.

 

“That looks relaxing” the brunette commented, rubbing her expanding belly.

 

Beth laughed softly, “It wasn’t when Mama first showed me; the first few things I made it felt like the needles were actually fighting against me, but now it does feel relaxing and good.  I can show you if you want and you can make a simple scarf.”

 

Lori quickly agreed and the women went to the stash of yarn and needles and Beth found her a thicker yarn that was very soft and a kind of medium, almost denim, blue and a set of larger needles that would be good for a beginner.  Beth helped the older woman wind the skein into a usable ball, then showed her how to do a good cast-on for a scarf and how to knit and purl before coming up with a simple pattern Lori would be able to do with those stitches.

 

The women talked about various things as they worked, stopping briefly when Rick came over to ask Lori how she was feeling and tell her that he wanted them to eat and get on the road as early as possible the next day.

 

As he walked away Beth looked over at the beautiful brunette and asked quietly “How do you do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“He’s so quiet with you.  Mama always said one of the reasons she fell in love with Daddy was that he talked with her like she was his best friend in the world right from their first date.  Daddy said he learned it from his job and from Maggie’s mama, Josephine.”  She glanced up shyly at the older woman and added quietly, hoping she wasn’t overstepping, “I was just wondering how you manage with someone who’s so…quiet.”  Beth felt her eyes wandering to Daryl’s form where he was sitting cleaning his crossbow again and talking softly with Carol, who had sat next to him after the supper dishes were clean.

 

Lori’s eyes followed Beth’s and she gave a small, private smile, “When I was growing up my family had a restaurant and I worked there from the time I was young.  I talked all day to customers and I worked there for a while even after we were married, plus I’d have friends or family over whenever Rick was working late or if Carl was at a friend’s house.  If I really started to feel lonely, I’d still go to the restaurant and help out sometimes, even if it wasn’t a regular job and it was great because I could talk as much as I wanted to other adults.  When Rick was home, I’d think of anything I could to get him engaged and talking.”  With a shake of her head, she added, “I even broke a couple small things around the house just to have something to talk about.”  She sighed and looked over at the young blonde “How things are now?  I could have handled things better when Shane came and told me Rick was dead…” Lori looked down as tears formed in her eyes.

 

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Beth said quickly, putting a hand over Lori’s and squeezing.

 

The brunette shook her head quickly and looked back up, moving her hand to hold Beth’s too and squeezed it back before they both let go and went back to knitting.  “You may not know, but Rick had been in a coma almost eight weeks by then…the doctors just weren’t sure he’d ever recover or if he’d still be himself when he came out of it.  They lost him on the way to the hospital and it was a miracle they got him back, but it was several minutes and they didn’t know if it would make a difference to his brain.  It had been so long and Shane was at the house so much every day he just moved in to the guest room and he was good with Carl and me…he really talked, you know?  He’d tell us about his day, funny things that happened at work, stories about when he and Rick were young, plus he took Carl to the park every nice day and threw baseballs or Frisbees with him. 

 

“Rick was always the quiet, thoughtful one and I loved that about him and I’ve always known how much he loved Carl and me, but he worked too hard most of the time and things weren’t great because we barely talked when he was there.  For weeks after he went into the coma the Turn started and Shane came home after the first case in Atlanta with loads of supplies and ammunition and told me to keep Carl home and stay in myself.  I was at the hospital every day before that and Shane took me one last time that first week before things got too bad.  He said the last time he was at the hospital they were shooting people who were sick, just dragging them out of their rooms, shooting them and tossing the bodies outside.  The military was there shooting the hospital staff and patients thinking they were infected and he had to sneak out, plus he said the electricity went off while he was there and all Rick’s monitors went down.”  She shuddered and shook her head, “We packed up and took off that night to get to Atlanta, searching for a refugee center we’d heard about…almost all our family and friends were dead or had left town by then and everything was terrifying and Shane was there protecting us and comforting us both.  While we were on the road, it was horrible to think of being apart from him, so we stayed together and just fell into being a couple.  I understand Rick’s anger about that…a lot of what you’re seeing now is that anger as well as sadness about what we did and having to kill the man who’d been his best friend growing up.  For now, my job is to be the best wife and mother I can be and hoping eventually he’ll forgive me.”

 

Beth impulsively set down her knitting before reaching over and hugging Lori close, “I’m so sorry, Lore” she said softly as the other woman hugged her back.  “I think I can understand a little about how you were feeling and how much you must have trusted Shane.”

 

Lori blinked back tears “We’d all known each other since my family moved there in middle school.  Rick and Shane had known each other since they were boys and they did everything together.”  She sniffled a little, “Not only did they grow up together, they played football together all through high school, went to police academy at the same time and were thrilled when they both got hired by the Sheriff’s Department in King County.  He was Rick’s best man at our wedding, he brought Rick to the hospital when Carl was born, he was with us for every major event in our lives, outside of the bedroom.  Rick trusted Shane too, you know…I don’t know if he’ll ever get over what he sees as Shane’s betrayals and I have to remember all that every time he turns from me or moves away at night or doesn’t meet my eyes when I stare at him across the fire.  So, I asked you to sleep next to me because it helps, and I joke with you and Carol and Maggie and talk with your dad and I ride in the SUV with them and listen to Rick talk with your dad and Carl…all that helps me deal with it.”  She looked over at her husband and smiled softly, “There’s always hope, you know…as long as we’re alive, we have hope and should do what we can to try to change things.”  She nudged Beth gently then and nodded toward the quiet hunter who now sat alone as Carol had moved to talk to Rick and Hershel and whispered, “He talks to you more than anyone else already and if you pay attention he’ll tell you things in ways other than just talking to you.  You just keep doing whatever you’re doing and I think you’ll be okay.”

 

As Lori looked back at her knitting, focusing intently on each stitch, Beth glanced shyly at Daryl and blushed when his eyes met hers as he glanced up at the same time.  Beth had finished the stitches she needed for the sock and refocused to finish casting off and weaving in the end of the yarn.  After a few minutes she had both socks in her hand and encouraged Lori to stop for the night and work on the scarf again while riding in the SUV the next day where she’d have lots of bright sunlight.

 

She stood and stretched and headed over to where Daryl was still seated next to one of the SUVs.  “Hey” she greeted him, squatting next to him and holding out the socks.

 

“What’s this?” he asked.

 

“Partly a ‘thank you’ for breaking into that yarn store the other day and partly a way of keeping your feet warm while on the motorcycle.  They’re wool, but it’s really soft wool and I hope you’ll like them.”

 

Daryl took the socks hesitantly and rubbed his fingers over them thinking how sweet she was and how he couldn’t think of anyone doing anything like that for him before. “Thanks” he managed to grunt out quietly.

 

“You’re welcome, Daryl.”  Beth smiled warmly at him before heading back to bed down next to Lori.

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, if you haven't been forgotten at the grocery store, you've lived a charmed life....

Things were quiet for a few weeks as the weather steadied into a bitter, relentless cold and supplies were running dangerously low again when they left the highway and found a small grocery store that still seemed to have a few items.  They split into pairs and set off to check different aisles after making some noise at the front and killing off the walkers that came forward.

 

Beth was making her way down the aisle marked for canned vegetables and rice with Carol; there weren’t many cans left, but Beth gripped the older woman’s arm excitedly and pointed when she noticed the shelves with bags at the end of the aisle.  Carol looked as well and smiled back at the blonde as they made their way to the bags of dried legumes.  They were able to fit all the remaining bags in the large cloth bags they carried and Carol spotted a large, unopened bag of rice on the lowest shelf when she crouched down and grabbed it as well.

 

They headed back to the canned vegetables and started loading up the few remaining, undamaged cans.  As soon as the last can was stowed in their bags, they slung the still only half-full bags over their shoulders and hurried to the front of the store.  Finding they were the first ones back, Carol signaled toward the baking aisle which was next to the one they’d just exited and the younger woman nodded as they both turned to head that way.

 

Flour that was usable was almost impossible to find and most was not usable due to meal worms or the bags had been covered in walker blood or other substances and they didn’t dare use it, though they’d managed to find small amounts once or twice.  They were excited to find a canister of fine flour and a small box of biscuit mix, both of which were still sealed and seemed undamaged.  They also found a box of cornstarch, a two pound bag of sugar, two large boxes of baking soda and a small canister of salt that had fallen into a mess made of fallen baking mixes that had broken open and spilled on the floor.  As Beth turned with the salt held out triumphantly, she was met with Carol holding containers of red and black pepper as well as granulated garlic.

 

“Score!” Beth breathed, forgetting the rule of silence in her excitement at having some kind of spices again, but at least remembering to remain quiet.  Both women smiled hugely as they bagged their finds, slung their bags back onto their shoulders and hurried back to the front for a second time, where the others had congregated.

 

With a nod and signal from Glenn, they all headed out the doors and ran for the vehicles.  Some walkers headed their way as they ran out, Beth, Carol, Lori and Carl struggling under the weight of their loads as the fighters who carried lighter bags or backpacks drew their weapons to take down any walkers that got too close.  Beth was bringing up the rear, letting the others go ahead of her and thinking she’d avoided the walkers when a heavy weight hit her back and she found herself being dragged down by the heavy pack she was carrying.  Before she could get away, Daryl was there, bringing his knife viciously down into the head of the walker clinging to the bag on her back, then turning his crossbow on another that was too close while Beth regained her feet and snatched up a couple items that had fallen out of the bag before starting to run to the larger SUV again.

 

She saw another walker coming up on her right, but Daryl was there once again, cutting it down before turning to the next.  Beth finally made it to the SUV and heaved her bag in, slamming down the cover as Rick gunned the SUV, preparing to take off.  Maggie ran to the smaller SUV as Beth realized that a bag of beans had fallen out of her bag when she heaved it in and she bent over to pick it up, seeing the wheels of the smaller SUV move as Glenn took off, then heard the roar of Daryl’s bike moving, she was straightening as she watched in horror as the vehicle moved off rapidly.  She noticed a tall male walker bearing down on her and quickly drew her knife to drive it up under the sagging draw into his brain.  The small blonde may have run track one year in school, but she despaired of ever catching up to the vehicles as she watched Glenn already pulling out onto the road with Daryl behind and Rick right after him.  She drove her knife into the skull of another walker that was heading for her, almost crying in relief when she saw Daryl’s head turn toward her and she turned again and started running after the vehicles once more.

 

For his part, Daryl had just turned onto the road when a flash of something bright in his side mirror as rapid movement caught at the corner of his eye.  He actually yelled in fear when he saw Beth running after them before turning the bike and gunning the gas to go after her.

 

Beth turned her focus from Daryl long enough to take down another walker that was in her way and then the motorcycle was next to her.  She flung herself on behind Daryl and wrapped herself around him as he jolted forward.

 

After they were on the road, Daryl realized Beth’s whole body was shaking and ran a soothing hand over one of her thighs as he steered with the other hand, mentally cursing that they’d left her behind while knowing it was an honest mistake.  When he spied an empty lot for a smaller store, he gave Rick the signal for “all fine, keep going” he used occasionally when he needed to stop and pulled off next to a shade tree after seeing Rick’s tail lights flash in acknowledgement.

 

He urged Beth quickly off the bike, following her upright almost simultaneously, checking her over to make sure she wasn’t bitten or scratched.  Satisfied that she was physically okay and the shaking and tears were just from being scared, he pulled her close and just breathed in the scent of her, amazed that she still smelled vaguely like vanilla instead of just sweat and fear.  He rested his lips on her forehead in a soft, brief kiss before he drew back and looked into her eyes.  He pulled one hand from her waist and stroked some hair back from her face, using his thumb to gently brush the tears from her cheeks.

 

“Hey,” he said softly “I got you; you’re okay.  I’m not letting you go.”  His fingers were still stroking her hair and face as he held her eyes with his own and could see her calming, the trust in her eyes like a drug to him.  “You alright, darlin’?” he asked after a minute, the endearment slipping out unnoticed.

 

She gave a little nod, still keeping her eyes on his, “Daryl…” her voice was soft, breathy and he felt a sudden, powerful desire to take her right up against the tree, but he knew he couldn’t.  This was Beth and Daryl had never known anyone so good and pure and he wasn’t willing to mess up whatever it was they had; still, he didn’t push her away when she pushed up on her toes and kissed his cheek gently.  Instead, he pulled her closer and held her tightly to him for another minute before saying gruffly, “We better get back on the road, Baby Girl.”

 

Beth nodded against his chest, under his chin and he sighed “Gonna’ have to put a leash on you…can’t have that happening again.”

 

“It was an accident,” she said softly.  “I know nobody would ever have left me deliberately.”

 

“This kind of thing never seems to happen to anyone else,” he grumbled.  “I didn’t see you and thought you’d gotten into the SUV with Rick…not doing that again.”

 

She pulled back a little and looked up at him “How about this…I will _always_ get on and ride with you unless we talk about it beforehand?”

 

“You got a deal,” he said, before releasing her, but sliding one hand down to hers before climbing back on the bike, still holding her hand and steadying her while she mounted up behind him.

 

Even after riding with her the rest of the day, it was only Hershel’s previous warning and Beth’s father’s eyes on them that prevented Daryl from signaling the young woman over and pulling her close under his poncho that evening.  He was still shaken by the thought that they’d almost left her behind and how easily she seemed to slip under their notice and wanted to continue to feel her small, warm, living body next to his.  Throughout his shift that night his eyes scanned her every few minutes where she lay between Lori and Carol and ended up and it was only because he was looking that he noticed her breathing becoming choppy and she started stirring in short, jerky movements.  He was going to get up and go to her when her eyes flew open and she suddenly sat up.  She looked around with wide, panicked eyes and when she saw him sitting up and watching her, she carefully stood and left her blankets, which were tangled with the other women and headed straight toward him, rubbing her arms as though the remnants of her nightmare still clung to her skin.  By the time she was next to him, he’d pulled his head from the hole that had turned the old horse blanket into a poncho, rearranged it and flipped one end up so that she could get under it.  She sat immediately and snuggled tightly into his side, but after a short time of her shivering against him, he simply pulled her over into his lap and she tucked against him and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her face in the crook of his neck and he felt content for the first time in days.  He caught Rick quirking up an eyebrow at him from his position, but he found he couldn’t bring himself to care as Beth’s shivering stopped and her warm breath evened out against his neck.

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look, I know it's not technically good writing to dip into other character's heads. You're supposed to really stick with one person and I'm playing fast and loose with two and bringing Rick and Lori in will probably eventually get edited out, but they're staying for right now....

Rick felt a twinge as he looked at Beth snuggled up to Daryl under the poncho and realized he would have liked to comfort her in the same way the younger man was doing at that point.  The young woman’s strong, sweet, kind nature drew him powerfully; he’d felt It the first day he’d really interacted her on the farm.  Besides, he’d since seen that she was also mature beyond her years, intelligent, observant and could be a little spitfire when something made her angry and those things had only increased her pull on him.  Things with Lori had seriously declined and although she tried to show him love by supporting his decisions and backing him up, even when she felt a decision to be the wrong one, he could always tell when his wife thought he was making a mistake.  His chosen role as leader was wearing and he truly felt the weight of every decision and the constant pressure to keep the group safe and even more than physical comfort he longed for the kind of support and trust that had developed between Beth and Daryl.

 

Although he believed that what he was doing was for the best, Carol’s near-constant criticisms, T-Dog, Maggie and Glenn’s wary glances and even Carl or Hershel’s occasional questioning rubbed on his nerves and increased his frustration levels.  Daryl had kept his opinions to himself, except twice over things related to Beth, Rick now realized, but Beth was the only one who seemed to just trust him because he tried to be a good man and do the right things, although he could tell it was nowhere near the extent to which she trusted the hunter.  Watching them, Rick finally admitted to himself that he wanted what Daryl and Beth had now.  He may have only seriously dated one woman other than Lori, but he’d been around enough to know that women like Beth with her blend of sweetness and strength were rare and, God help him, in spite of everything with Lori, he wanted that again, wanted her because of it even knowing he couldn’t have her.  Instead of thinking futilely about how he could have her, he thought about how he could help her and slowly that night came up with a plan.

 

After Daryl’s watch was over, the hunter simply leaned back into the tree he was sitting next to, Beth still cradled in his lap and the two of them had gone to sleep.  Rick stayed on watch; technically, he should have awakened Glenn and Maggie to take over for them, but he doesn’t want to risk the couple freaking out over where Maggie’s little sister is sleeping or for Glenn to run over and wake up Hershel thinking it was something the older man should know about at once.  Besides, he wants to enact his plan before anything happens that could mess it up.  Rick awakens Daryl and Beth before the others are up and they start their daily routine before Rick awakens the others.  After everyone’s up and moving around, he pulls Hershel aside and asks him to speak privately for a minute.

 

When they are away from the camp and can no longer be overheard, Rick starts with, “You should probably know that Beth had a nightmare last night and went over to sleep with Daryl.  There was absolutely nothing inappropriate about it and I didn’t want you hearing it as gossip or getting upset with them.”

 

The old vet eyed him speculatively…this is information Rick could have given him back in the camp and Hershel’s curious about why they needed the privacy they have.  “Thank you for letting me know, Rick.  I’ll have to have a talk with my daughter.”

 

Rick shifted his feet slightly and looked intently at the older man, “That’s the thing, Sir…I don’t think you should.”  At Hershel’s indrawn breath, the former deputy lifted a hand and added “Please hear me out.  We’re all in danger all the time and Beth is a brave, strong young woman, but from what I can tell everyone in your family has tried to protect her from unpleasant things her whole life.  It may have been exactly what she needed and deserved, but it’s left her without some of the coping skills she needs for this new world.  For some reason she feels safe with Daryl and he’s not just protecting her, he’s teaching her things all the time as are the rest of us and I’ve seen her growing already.”  Hershel was already nodding because he’d seen it too so Rick continued, “I’m worried that if you try to keep them apart and don’t let her go to anyone she chooses when she has a nightmare or is scared that she may find other ways to try to deal with the stress she feels.”

 

“She promised she won’t try to commit suicide again” Hershel’s definite…he believed Beth and has seen the changes in her since her half-hearted attempt months ago.

 

“I don’t think she will either, but the morning I talked with her she said just cutting herself relieved some of her stress and that’s especially dangerous in this world.  Walkers are attracted to blood from wounds and if she has a cut that gets infected, it could be really bad for her; besides, we want her to be able to deal with things without resorting to self-harm.”

 

“And you think me keeping her away from Daryl may set her back?”

 

“I do” Rick nodded earnestly.  “I think we should all keep helping her with her survival skills and making sure she’s as prepared as she can be, and for now Daryl’s playing a big part in helping her feel safe and training her and I think as long as things stay appropriate you shouldn’t try to separate them.  She still goes to you and Maggie and Lori for comfort and support, too and Daryl is close with Carol and me…hell, he’s close to you too.  Neither of them wants to disappoint or upset anyone, least of all you, and I think Beth’s as safe with him as she would be with anyone.  I know the decision is yours, but I wanted to talk with you because I genuinely think separating them would be bad for her.”

 

After a moment of thought, Hershel nodded and sighed, “I’ll give them a chance, unless I see anything inappropriate and I’ll talk with Maggie and Glenn too.”

 

As soon as he could, Hershel had a quiet word with Maggie and Glenn to let them know that they weren’t to say anything if Beth was found sleeping with Daryl as long as nothing inappropriate was taking place.  He let them know he was okay with it as long as it was just sleeping and they weren’t to shame his younger daughter for staying with the redneck on occasion.

 

o))O((o

 

One night they were discussing supplies and Maggie was keeping the main list, which she’d later copy out several times so that they could be sure everyone knew what was needed.  Suddenly Maggie handed the list to Carol and asked her to keep working on it for a few minutes while the brunette went to talk to her sister who was finishing up the last of the supper dishes while talking with Carl, who was helping by drying as she washed.  Maggie excused Carl and then pulled her sister close and began talking emphatically.  Within seconds, the others could tell the discussion had escalated into a full-blown fight between the sisters, although it was too low for the others to catch.  Hershel stood from the camp chair where he’d been resting and headed quickly for his daughters before things could get too out of hand.  Daryl could see Beth’s expression was mortified watching her father approach as she tried even harder to pull away from her sister and Maggie’s fingers dug into her sister’s arms.

 

Carol rolled her eyes at the younger women, but Lori stood up from her own chair and started to head over.  Rick put up a hand to stop her, but when Hershel’s voice rose as well his wife merely looked apologetic and headed over toward the small family.  Her arrival actually seemed to help diffuse some of the tension and a calmer discussion took place with Hershel and Maggie questioning Beth while Lori stood supportively at the young blonde’s side with an arm around the girl’s waist.  After a few minutes, Maggie, Hershel and Lori came back to the rest of the group, Lori giving Rick a small head-shake, while Beth finished up the dishes and the list-making continued.

 

Before Lori bedded down that evening Rick sent Carl to bed and signaled his wife over to talk to him privately, unaware that Daryl was still awake and within earshot.

 

“What was that about earlier?” the former deputy asked.

 

Lori sighed, rubbing the small of her back as she stood, “Beth’s not having her period anymore and Maggie realized it while making her list and was questioning her about why.”

 

Rick felt his stomach drop, “Why isn’t she?” He ground out…it was bad enough Lori was pregnant, but if Beth was as well it could fracture the group besides making things that much harder on everyone, depending on the identity of the baby’s father.  He thought about the time Daryl spent with Beth and pushed aside any other feelings he had at the idea of someone else being with the young blonde.

 

“She said she’s never been completely regular, but she’s also lost weight since we’ve been on the road, I can tell.  I hadn’t noticed how much before, but when I hugged her I realized she’s probably lost more than ten or fifteen pounds she couldn’t afford to lose.  Hershel hadn’t noticed before either, but he’s aware of it now too.  She’s been hiding it under the layers she wears.”

 

“You’re sure she’s not…” he gestured to her belly where their baby was currently kicking.

 

His wife laughed, “Rick…no!  Beth’s still a virgin; when would she ever have time and privacy for that anyway?”

 

“Maggie and Glenn manage” he said darkly.

 

“Yes, but everyone knows where they are and what they’re doing…even if Hershel wants to pretend to everyone else they are just gathering supplies or scouting, I can tell he knows too.”

 

Running a hand over his face and neck in frustration, Rick sighed and said “We’re doing the best we can with food.  We’d probably have to stay somewhere at least a whole day for Daryl to really try for something larger than squirrels and rabbits, or at least get more of those and it’s too dangerous most times to stop that long.  You think she’ll be okay?”

 

Lori nodded “Walkers seem slower the colder it gets, so we’ll just have to hope for a few good days, here and there.”  She gave a rueful little chuckle, “I wish I’d appreciated grocery shopping more back then or been one of those women who did the extreme couponing and had stuff stored up that would have lasted us years…especially toilet paper.  I would give anything for us to find a semi full of Charmin!”

 

Rick shook his head “You got out with the most important thing…Carl.  We can live without a lot of things, but I don’t think I would have made it without you both.  Even with everything that’s happened, I can’t forget that you did that…you saved our son.”

 

“Thank you, Rick” the tall brunette said softly, blinking back tears.

 

o))O((o

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hey,” Beth looks up to greet Daryl, who’s standing close by with his crossbow over his shoulder and a hand extended toward her.  She took the hand without hesitation and Daryl pulled her up, then dropped her hand and started walking into the woods.  Beth glanced at her father, who nodded at her as it he already knew where she was going, so she followed Daryl.

 

The group was stopped in what appears to have been a good-sized park.  They were near a broad river with several small falls and wide-open green space, even if the grass was a little high in places now that nobody had been around to mow it for months.  There was hardly any grass in the woods because of the lack of sunlight, though, and when Daryl led her into a small glade a hundred yards or so into the woods, the only grass was the kind that doesn’t get too tall before it falls over in graceful waves.  There are even some small white and yellow flowers despite how late in the year it was getting and Beth thought it looked like a fairy glade or something.  She had a wild impulse to spread out her arms and dance, but was also watching Daryl, who looked serious.

 

“Had some time this morning,” Daryl said as he pulled a flattened stick about the length of her knife from his belt and handed it to her before removing another one for himself and dropping into a slight crouch.

 

Beth held her pretend knife low and slightly out from her body and waited for Daryl’s nod that signals the start of their work.  When it came, she darted in quickly only to lose her knife in less than a second and have Daryl’s touch her chest, just over her heart.  He shook his head at her and demonstrated a different way she’d need to come at him to try to stab him before she picked up her practice knife and tried again.  They worked for almost an hour and Beth came close to Daryl a couple times, but it was only the second time they’d been able to practice.  Daryl had practiced for years and had actually used his skills fighting against humans, walkers and even a couple animals that weren’t quite dead after he shot them with the bow and arrow.  Protecting himself against a slight seventeen-year-old girl whose trademark seems to be her gentle, quiet nature didn’t even take all his attention.

 

They end the lesson with Daryl working again on how she held her knife, where she would need to stab at people and went over again how to best stab walkers to take them down.  He answered her questions patiently and they did a quick lesson on how she could roll her wrist and pull to try to break away from an attacker who grabbed her arm.  As hard as their life was on the road, she was stronger and in better shape on the farm where she had chores and worked hard physically every day helping care for the animals, gardens, house, barns and so on than she was now.  On the road, too much of their time is spent driving to get much exercise.  Daryl’s hand envelops her wrist and Beth tugged, even grabbing the fist on her captured wrist with the opposite hand and pulling, but it wasn’t working.

 

“Listen,” Daryl said when she looked up at him, discouraged, “just because you’re smaller it doesn’t mean you can’t make it work, you just have to do something else if this happens.  Stomp down on the guy’s foot with the heel of your boot at the same time you yank on your wrist and he’ll likely loosen his grip for a second.  Kick him in the leg, knee him in the groin…you’ve got to be willing to play dirty because someone trying to hurt you deserves whatever they get.”

 

Beth sighed, “I wish I could be like you and just do all this stuff.”

 

Daryl snorted, “Everyone’s smaller than someone at some time, Beth; not like I fell out of the womb knowing this stuff.  I’ve used lots of dirty tricks in fights, done all kinds of things to win or get away.  You use whatever you have and you think all the time.”

 

“Like Jackie Chan!”  Beth said suddenly, brightening.

 

“Yup,” Daryl agreed, amused as he turned them to walk back to the camp.  “How do you know about Jackie Chan?”

 

“Maggie and Shawn loved his movies…even Mama liked them.  She loved how he was constantly thinking and would just use mops, umbrellas, chairs…whatever was there; he found a way to use nearly everything.”

 

“Well, that’s what we’ve all got to do to survive.  You’re good at looking at stuff, Beth…never seen a woman who spends as much time watching everything as you do.  Don’t see many people better at watching than they are at talking.”

 

“You are,” Beth replied.  It’s something she and Daryl had in common…the way they sit and watch and take things in until they think they understand things.

 

Daryl shrugged, “Had to be, growing up with my old man.  Never knew what mood he’d be in and the woman we lived with after Mom killed herself wasn’t much different, just slyer in how she’d hurt you.  The other men and women we hung around weren’t much better and some were worse.  When Merle got me away, still was about the same.”

 

Beth slipped her hand into his and twined their fingers together.  Daryl bumped her with his shoulder, “How’d you get so good at it?”

 

She tipped her head to the side and he could tell she was thinking.  “You know, I always thought it was just my nature,” she said quietly, “but Maggie was always wild and in trouble and Shawn acted out a lot when they were kids.  They weren’t far apart, did you know?  They were only about a year apart and both used to getting their own way when Mama and Daddy got married.”

 

“You get ignored a lot as a kid?”

 

“I guess.  I wasn’t ever neglected, but I’ve always been able to entertain myself and I think I was kind of easy for them.  Maggie and Shawn were always into something and I guess I ended up watching a lot to see what was going to happen and how to stay out of trouble.”  She suddenly remembered something and frowned, giving a little head-shake.

 

“What is it?”

 

“One time, Maggie and Shawn had been causing trouble all day getting into stuff…it was the day before my birthday,” Beth suddenly had tears in her eyes at the memory and she edged closer to Daryl until she was almost pressed up against him as they walk.  “They got Mama and Daddy all mad and even Otis and Patty were upset at them.”

 

“What’d they do?”

 

“Oh, all kinds of stuff…they’d been fighting for days, had accidentally let some of the horses loose, tipped one of the cows that morning – something Daddy never allowed and punished them for because it was cruel to the cow – somehow driven one of the SUVs into the duck pond when they were supposed to be doing chores and…oh, I don’t know what all.  They were about eleven then and into everything.  I was four and I’d gone to the hen house with Patty to get the eggs and Patty was letting me carry the basket and I came in the kitchen and tripped and fell with the basket and broke every egg.  Mama yelled at me for it and Daddy spanked me and sent me to my room and they canceled my fifth birthday party which would have been the next day.”  Beth swiped at the tears on her cheeks and sniffled, “I know they didn’t mean to, they were just so frazzled.”

 

“I can’t picture Hershel doing that,” Daryl said before he added hastily, “I believe you, but he seems so different now.”

 

“He was really sorry about it afterwards…so was Mama,” Beth recalled softly.  “Patty and Otis were both mad at them for what they did and Patty baked me a birthday cake anyway, even if the party had been cancelled and Otis got me a pretty basket for my bike that I’d been wanting.”  Her chin wobbled a little, but she took a steadying breath, “Mama and Daddy apologized to me and we had a quiet family birthday and Mama and I went for a horseback ride.”  After a beat she added quietly, “Daddy’s changed over the years; he’s a lot less angry now.”

 

“Helps you feel any better, I never got a birthday party.  Merle’s the only one who got me anything for a birthday and that wasn’t until I was sixteen.”

 

“Daryl, that’s awful!  Why would that make me feel better?”  Daryl just shrugged in response as Beth looked up at him intently and tugged him to a stop while they were still inside the woods and put her arms around his waist and leaned her head into his shoulder as she hugged him.  “When is your birthday anyway?” she asked in a voice trying hard to be innocent.

 

“Nuh-uh” Daryl grinned with his face against her hair.  “Not telling ya’ that…you’ll make me wear a pointy hat with glitter or something.”

 

“I wouldn’t do that…unless I find one…if I find one, you’re toast.”

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a few days of rest, but sometimes resting leads to more talking....

Inevitably, they were moving further into winter and Hershel figured it was just before Thanksgiving and around Lori’s fifth month of pregnancy when the first sub-zero temperatures hit.  In the early afternoon the next day, they found a farmhouse that had been built sometime in the 1930’s with a wood-burning stove for heat.  There was a full propane tank that ran the water heater and cook stove and a generator in an outbuilding to run the pump to give them water and limited electricity in the house.  There was even a petrol tank in the front yard with a pump that had once fueled the farm equipment, but now allowed them to fill up the SUVs and motorcycle and still have a lot of fuel leftover.  Hershel proved handy getting the generator running while Daryl made sure the propane tank was still hooked up and turned it on while Rick, Glenn and Carl watched their backs.

 

After they’d cleared the main floor together with Carol, Lori and T-Dog, Maggie and Beth cleared the basement together and found only one straggling walker that seemed to have been one of the owners of the house.  The woman’s head hung at an odd angle and they figured she had taken a tumble down the stairs and died of a broken neck, but it made her no less dangerous and Maggie put her down with a machete through the head.  Though some had been knocked down by the walker, shelves with preserves and pickles remained and both the sisters looked at each other with excited smiles.  Someone had been avid about putting up as much as they could from the garden that was back behind the house and most of the shelves are full of canned goods.  Among other things, they found a few jars of homemade spaghetti sauce that still seemed to be good and took them upstairs first along with a couple jars of cut green beans.

 

Carol, T-Dog and Lori had cleared the top level before starting to scavenge the house and Lori’s pulling items from the pantry while T-Dog and Carol check the other rooms as the others work on things outside.  Beth gasped and squeezed Maggie’s arm when she saw not only two boxes of spaghetti noodles on the counter, but even a familiar green canister containing grated Parmesan cheese.  Maggie looked at Beth with a big grin before asking what day it is.

 

“Wednesday,” Beth grinned, having looked at their Dad’s small pocket calendar the morning before, before adding, “It’s perfect!”

 

“What’s perfect?” Lori smiled at the younger women.

 

“The church always had spaghetti suppers on Wednesday nights before the mid-week service and Daddy used to joke that it was Spaghetti Tuesday every Wednesday.  If we have spaghetti tonight, he’s going to be a really happy man and it’s going to be just as good for him as a turkey dinner would be tomorrow,” Maggie answered enthusiastically.

 

Lori hesitated only a second before nodding, “We should do that while we have the stove and a house that seems pretty secure.  We can start heating the water and sauce before much longer; it would be great if we could have everything turned off before nightfall.”

 

As Maggie and Lori keep looking through things, Beth announces she’s going to go outside and get more wood for the heating stove.  It would have been better for them if the propane ran the heat as well as the gas range, but it didn’t and with the cold they needed the warmth enough to make it worth the risk.  Beth carried in the first armloads by herself before T-Dog joined in to help as they chatted.  After they had enough inside and stacked in the wood box to last the night, Beth wandered outside toward the remains of the garden, waving to the men who were still checking things around the house and yard.

 

There was hardly anything left, most things having died back naturally or been killed by the cold they’d already experienced, but there was a medium-sized pumpkin that was a bright orange against the dull browns and grays of late autumn.  Beth knelt next to it and tapped it carefully and could tell it was ripe, so drew her knife and carefully nipped through the vine where it wasn’t too thick and wouldn’t hurt the blade.  She could hear steps approaching and glanced over her shoulder to see Carl hurrying closer.

 

“Hey, Beth, let me get that for you” the boy offered, eagerly reaching for the pumpkin.

 

“Thank you, Carl!  Let’s take it onto the porch so we can cut it up for roasting while we have the oven.  I’m going to go inside and see if I can find a pan and a knife.”

 

“I can help you cut it up!  I helped carve the last couple jack o’lanterns we had,” he offers with enthusiasm.

 

“Let’s ask your mom, Carl.  Cutting a pumpkin is tricky when you’re trying to get it into slices and peel it.  I’d like some help, but let’s run it past her.”

 

Carl left the pumpkin out on the porch and they found Lori in the kitchen where the boy enthusiastically asked his mother for permission to help, which was promptly denied.  Lori wants her son to stay inside and try on some clothes they’ve found.  Beth gathered a carving knife, a couple smaller paring knives, an old newspaper and a baking pan before heading back out on the porch, leaving Carl to argue with his mother.  She set to work cutting the pumpkin into long strips a little over an inch wide and setting the insides aside, hoping to clean them and roast the seeds with some salt if they have time.  She was carefully peeling the rind from the third long strip when someone dropped down next to her on the porch and she looked over to see Daryl sitting cross-legged next to her.  Without asking, he picked up the extra paring knife and set to work on another strip, making quick work of it.

 

Beth told him about the spaghetti they were planning for that night as well as the canned items they’d found in the basement.  “I think I even saw a couple canned chickens” the young woman enthused, “as well as vegetables and some soup and what seemed to be stew.”

 

“Didn’t know you could can a chicken,” Daryl said, surprised.

 

“Mama and Patty used to do it sometimes” Beth affirms, “especially when we had too many hens.  Some breeds and commercial ones are too big, but we had mostly smaller breeds and they’ll fit in a bigger, wide-mouth can.  We’d add in some good, hot broth we’d make with several chickens and vegetable scraps and then seal and boil the can.  You have to be really careful or they’ll spoil pretty quickly, but they were great to have around if Daddy brought someone home unexpectedly.”

 

“How’d you fix a canned chicken?”

 

“Well, mostly what we’d do is take all the meat off the bones and make a casserole or even crepes.  One of the women at church took a class and learned to make the most wonderful crepes and taught some of the other women how to do it and they can be made and frozen like pancakes or something.  Mama always kept some around and we’d make up something fast with a cream or cheese sauce and people would give her the biggest compliments!”  Beth laughed, “Mama said once those crepes and her waffle iron saved their marriage because she never could break Daddy of bringing home people without calling and letting her know what he was doing and it always seemed to be one of those days when she was just going to do a pick-up supper.”

 

“Why the waffle maker, she clock your old man with it?” Daryl asked with a quirk of his lips.

 

“Oh, the other thing she did a lot when that happened was breakfast for supper because she could whip up a bunch of waffles, eggs, bacon, a fruit bowl and such really quickly.”  Beth sighed and blinked really quickly to rid her eyes of tears.

 

Daryl knocked her foot with one of his own, “You always get emotional over breakfast food?”

 

Beth swiped the tears from her cheeks and gave him a watery grin, “Waffles were some of Shawn’s favorite things and Mama used to make chicken and waffles for everyone on Friday nights after games, at least until Maggie and Shawn were old enough to drive and they’d go to the local burger place with their friends.”

 

“Shawn played football?”

 

Beth nodded and added “Maggie was a cheerleader, but don’t tell her I told you so!”

 

“Would’ve thought you were the cheerleader.”

 

“No, I took dance and music lessons for a while and liked those, but when you do cheerleading there’s tons of practice time, fundraisers and stuff like that and I wanted to spend some time every day listening to music and writing down stuff that was in my head or drawing or something.  What did you do after school?  Did you play football or anything?”

 

“Nah, nothing like that; spent most of my free time out in the woods.”

 

The tone of Daryl’s voice didn’t invite further comment, but Beth wanted to know a little more.  “What about your brother?  He was older than you, right?”

 

Daryl’s shoulders were radiating tension, “About twelve years older than me, almost thirteen; he wasn’t around much after I was five.  Merle left when he turned eighteen, joined the army, got out after ten years and came back, then took me with him when I turned eighteen.”

 

“Did you have the same mother?  Maggie’s mom, Josephine, died when she was little; the one back on the farm was my mama, Annette.”

 

“Yeah, same mom…she lost a couple babies between him and me.”

 

“Lost? You mean miscarried, or….”

 

“Yeah.”

`

“Oh…that happened to one of my friends’ moms; she was so excited when she was finally able to have another baby.  Daryl!  Let me look at that!”  He’d been peeling the last piece of pumpkin and his knife had slipped, opening a small cut on his thumb.

 

“Don’t fuss.”

 

“Come on, let’s wash it off – there’s warm water and soap in the kitchen and I’ll get the first aid kit.”  She took the knife from him and stood, offering him her hand until he took it and let her help him to his feet and lead him into the kitchen, leaving him at the sink while she ran back outside for a kit.

 

Maggie and Lori had left the kitchen to go investigate the basement while T-Dog had joined Rick, Hershel and Glenn outside, but Carol was in the kitchen at the table sorting through the pile of items she’d found while a large pot of water sat on the stove heating slowly.  She grinned as she watched Daryl washing his hands, using the bar of soap next to the sink.

 

“What?” he grunted.  Carol didn’t say anything, just grinned back at him until he blushed and added “Shut up” as he dried his hands on a clean towel.

 

Beth bounded back into the kitchen, carrying one of the smaller first aid kits and checked his hand to make sure it was clean and dry before she studiously dabbed on a small amount of antibacterial cream and peeled the papers off a bandage before carefully applying it over the cut on his thumb.  When he peeked over Beth’s head he could still see the gray-haired woman grinning at him and he frowned back at her, almost daring her to say anything.  It took him a moment to realize that Beth had finished her ministrations and was looking out one of the windows at a lone walker trailing slowly across a field in the distance, heading away from the house.  She still held his hand, but absently as though she wasn’t aware she was doing it.

 

“Why don’t they die?” the young woman asked, still looking out the window and gesturing with her chin.  “They slow or stop in the cold and they don’t generate body heat, right?  Why don’t they die when they freeze?”

 

“It’s the virus, honey,” said Carol from the table, finally glancing away from Daryl and giving up her teasing for the moment.  “They aren’t really alive anymore.”

 

“Well, I know the virus affects their brains and makes them come back somehow, but in science class they talked about how all viruses have limitations.  Some die under a certain temperature, some over a certain temperature, or if their host dies while others have to be in liquid and many die if they don’t have a host for a certain amount of time though some last longer and are much easier to transmit than others….” She suddenly blinked at them both, “I’m sorry, sometimes I just wonder how they can keep going the way they do.  I keep thinking they’ll freeze and the virus will die.”

 

“All you got to know is that they exist, they’re dangerous and you have to kill them first” Daryl said brusquely.  “I’m going to go out; see if they need some help,” but he hesitated to yank his hand away from Beth for some reason.

 

“Well, take care of yourself.  I’ve got to finish getting that pumpkin ready to roast.”

 

“Is that what you’ve been doing?” Carol sounded surprised.  “We found some canned milk and a little sugar in the pantry; maybe we can make something like a pumpkin pie.  This house was a real find and about time, too!”

 

Beth nodded, “Daddy won’t know what to do with both pumpkin pie and spaghetti right before Thanksgiving!  Let me go finish getting it ready and we can roast it.”  She seemed to realize she was still holding onto Daryl’s hand and gave it a little squeeze before letting it go.  “Thank you for your help, Daryl” she added before heading back outside.

 

Daryl watched her go, then glanced back at Carol, still seated at the table and grinning at him once more.  “Stop” he said, rolling his eyes a little.

 

“It’s sweet,” the older woman grinned at him.  “Besides, she’s right to make sure you’re okay and it doesn’t get infected.”

 

He just grunted in response before heading outside, shouldering his crossbow from where he’d left it on the porch, glancing at Beth who was finishing the last piece of pumpkin.  She was concentrating on what she was doing, but glanced up to meet his eyes briefly and gave a little grin before looking back down at her task.  Daryl barely held back the urge to ask her to come with him; she’d gotten a little bit better with her knife.  Still, they didn’t have the ammunition for him to work with her on her shooting and he didn’t want to put her at risk, so he just headed out on his own.

 

When he returned around sunset with only two squirrels, it was to be welcomed with a feast of spaghetti and a pan of what was basically pumpkin pie without a crust.  The kitchen table was only big enough for four people and Carol was seated with Hershel, Rick and Lori, but the gray-haired woman got up to fix him a large plate of hot food while he washed his hands.  He’d cleaned the squirrels out in the woods already, so he just left them next to the sink.  As Carol handed him the prepared plate, he noticed something almost apologetic in her expression, but couldn’t think what she’d have to apologize for.  Another faint warning bell went off when he noted Lori was studiously looking at her own plate and not at him, though Hershel and Rick seemed normal.

 

In the living room, T-Dog and Glenn were sharing the couch while Maggie sat in one of the chairs and Beth and Carl sat on the floor, all around the coffee table, which had a small candle burning in the middle.  He noted the others all looked and smelled clean and felt a flash of being out of place that he quickly tried to tamp down.  The one place left around the table was a chair next to Beth and he took a seat with only the smallest hesitation.  Carol’s earlier teasing had already left him feeling self-conscious about the girl, but he wasn’t prepared to see her face flush pink when his knee brushed her shoulder and she scooted over a little to accommodate him.  She’d never moved away from him before, though and he felt a small twinge, which added on to the feeling of being different that he’d already experienced and put his back up a little more.  Still, Glenn engaged him immediately in a conversation about the vehicles and a different way to arrange things that could be more efficient for the group and he was able to push aside the feeling of displacement and relax a little.

 

The others were talking normally and getting the redneck involved, so it barely registered with him when Beth stood and took her plate and Carl’s back to the kitchen.  Daryl was wolfing his food down as was his habit and when the young woman came back a moment later with two bowls of baked pumpkin, she handed one to Carl and another to Daryl, taking the hunter’s empty plate with her without looking at anyone.  She took Glenn and T-Dog’s now-empty plates as well and vanished back into the kitchen only to reappear with three more bowls of pumpkin and spoons and set one next to each of the remaining people, even though Maggie wasn’t finished with her spaghetti yet.  When she left the room after that, though, the blonde didn’t reappear with her own bowl and after the conversation about their supplies ran down, Daryl started unobtrusively looking for her as he carried his bowl back to the kitchen out of habit.

 

Hershel and the others were still sitting around the table and talking, but Beth was nowhere to be found.  The hunter scooped the last bit of the delicious baked pumpkin into his bowl and stepped out onto the porch, lighting a cigarette after shutting the door behind him.  Turning to the side, he spied the young woman sitting up next to the house with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them as she scanned the fields and watched the sunset.

 

When he was next to her, he held out the bowl of pumpkin and spoon and nudged her with his foot until she took it.  Beth started to put the bowl on the porch, but Daryl grunted “Nuh-uh,” and nudged her again, so she sighed and started eating the dessert.  By the time the bowl was empty, Daryl had finished his cigarette and they relaxed in silence for a few minutes, until Daryl reached a hand down to help Beth stand.  He wasn’t prepared for the deep blush that took over her face and rapidly spread down her neck and under the collar of her shirt, staining her pale skin and the reaction from the young woman startled him.  Surprise turned to worry when she wouldn’t meet his eyes right away, “Beth?”  he asked softly.

 

“I should go inside,” she said quietly.

 

“Nope…come here,” he responded, guiding her to a gliding couch at the end of porch, away from the windows and door.  He used his ever-present bandana to swipe off the all-weather seat before directing her to sit, plopping down next to her and adding, “Talk.”

 

There was silence for a while as she seemed to struggle with herself, then “Carol was teasing me about all the time we spend together” her voice was so soft he had to strain to hear it.

 

He shifted and stared at her, frowning, “What the hell?”

 

“She seems to think I’m throwing myself at you and you’re just tolerating me…that you don’t really like me or want to spend time with me.”

 

“That’s bullshit” he said flatly, his voice low and emphatic.  When she finally looked directly at him he looked her straight in the eye and added, “I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.  In case you forgot, I’m the one who asked you to ride on the bike with me and volunteered to help train you to fight.  You still want to do those things?”

 

“Of course I do, Daryl!”

 

“Then forget what she said; whether we do things together or not’s between you and me, nobody else.”  He thought for just a second, then added, “Well, maybe your dad, but not anyone else.  Carol was just teasing you, you said?”

 

“I think so…Lori overheard and stopped her.”  She looked up at Daryl with big, sincere eyes, “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, Daryl....”

 

He snorted, “Think I can’t tell you ‘no’ if I want to?  Who is it who asked you to ride on the back of my bike all day?  You think I couldn’t tell you to go ask Rick or Glenn if you want to get more training?”

 

“Well, yes….”

 

“Girl, the only thing that was making me ‘uncomfortable’ was you avoiding me, so you just forget what she said.  You don’t want to do things with me for another reason, you just have to say, but don’t do it for Carol or anyone else.”

 

Beth gave him a big, relieved grin before saying, “Thank you, Daryl!”  Without any hesitation, she leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before laying her head briefly on his shoulder.

 

The hunter couldn’t hug her back from his position, so he patted her awkwardly on the hip a couple times and grunted “Okay…we good now?”

 

“Yeah…thank you, Daryl” she released her hug, shifting so that she was sitting next to him, with her feet up on the glider and her arms wrapped around her knees.  They sat quietly chatting until the sun had set before she said, “I should go in and see if anyone needs anything; Lori’s been pretty uncomfortable lately.”

 

“’K…I’ll be in after a bit” he replied, pulling out another cigarette and lighting up.

Daryl had almost made it through his second cigarette when Carol stepped around the corner of the porch; she was obviously looking for him and walked over when she spied him. 

 

“Those things’ll kill you,” she said, settling next to him on the glider.

 

“Everything’s trying to kill everyone these days.”

 

Carol chuckled then said quietly, “I just care about you and want to help.”

 

“I can handle my own shit…should remember that.”

 

She frowned at him for a moment, “What?”

 

He looked at her until she flushed a little and looked away, “Beth said something to you?  I was just teasing; I didn’t know she’d take it to heart that much.  I’ll talk to her.”

 

“Don’t.”  When the older woman glanced at him he added, “Already talked to her and we’re okay, just…don’t do it again.”

 

“If it weren’t for her…” she began.

 

“Don’t start, it’s not her…not just her” he amended.

 

“We’d be better off with just the two of us; this group is broken.  Rick’s losing it, Hershel trusts him too much to see what’s wrong with him; Glenn and Maggie don’t care about anything but each other and T’s a good man, but he’s not a leader.  You and I….”

 

“I’m staying,” he said flatly.

 

“You need to see it, you’re just blinded by...” Daryl’s head whipped around and the stare he gave her silenced her for a moment.  “Sorry…but you know I’m right.”

 

“You’re not, we’re better off with the group.  Rick’s been doing whatever it takes to keep us all alive.”

 

“He’d sacrifice all of us if it meant saving Lori and Carl.”

 

“No different than what Shane would have done…it’s what people do for the ones they love…doesn’t make him a bad person or mean we should leave.  We’re still better off with the group, so long as we don’t stop thinking.”

 

“If it was just the two of us, you’d only have to hunt for two and I could help you.  I don’t need someone to take care of me all the time.”

 

“Already told you to stop asking,” he growled, tossing down the cigarette butt and tamping it out with his boot heel.  “I’m tired of hearing it almost every night.”

 

“Okay, okay,” Carol ceded, holding up her hands.  “I’m just checking to see if you changed your mind.”

 

“I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”   They both stood and stepped off the porch before making a circuit of the house to check for issues and didn’t see a single walker or anything unusual.

 

When they got back in the house, almost everyone else had bedded down.  Maggie and Glenn were taking first watch, Rick and Hershel second and Daryl would take the third with Beth.  The others had dragged mattresses and bedding from other rooms and Lori was sharing the smallest mattress with Beth while Hershel, Rick and Carl bedded down on the largest.  T-Dog was resting on half of another mattress and the couch was free.  Carol immediately headed for the couch while Daryl pulled off his crossbow and moved to bed down next to T, secretly relieved that the spot also happened to place him on the side of the mattress so that he was closest to Beth.  Right before he laid down, he remembered that they were in a place with hot, running water for the first time since the Greene farm, so he grabbed his clean pair of pants, spare shirt and socks.  Hurrying to the bathroom, he took a quick shower, scrubbing himself down with the soap from hair to feet and rinsing off so that he was out and dressed again in less than ten minutes and heading for bed.

 

The soft, even breathing of those already asleep put him out quickly and for once he was so exhausted he didn’t even dream.  It was almost dawn when a light touch on his shoulder brought him awake and he saw Rick leaning over him letting him know it was time for his shift before their leader turned away to wake Beth as well.  They’d decided to stay in the house as long as possible; with the freezing temperatures outside, walkers were either not moving or barely moving and the group desperately needed rest and a few days of decent food.

 

Daryl knew the canned goods Beth had told him about in the basement were a find and they could probably have some decent meals and they all needed some of those.  The night before was the first time he’d gone to bed with a full stomach in longer than he cared to remember.

 

As Beth moved to check windows on the opposite side of the house from Daryl, he chanced a peek at her and noted her figure seemed even slighter than before.  All of them were thin, but there was something frail about both Lori and Beth that worried him.  Since overhearing Lori and Rick talking about Beth no longer having her periods, Daryl had tried more diligently to make sure the young woman ate her share at mealtimes, but they’d simply been on the run too much and had too little food in spite of their occasional windfalls.  Feeding ten people took more food than you would have thought and some days all they’d been able to catch or kill had been a couple squirrels, which was okay when they’d also had vegetables or beans to warm with the meat and make it stretch, but sometimes they’d ended up having to move so quickly they hadn’t been able to cook anything or sit to eat it.  Twice, full pots of food had been lost when their camps had been overrun…once when the pot of stew had spilled and once when the whole pot had to be left behind because they’d run and it had taken them a while to find another couple cast iron pots – there had been a times when nobody in the group had eaten for an entire day or each member had only gotten a mouthful out of a can.  He ran a hand over his face in frustration and moved to the next window.

 

Part of the problem was that if Daryl wasn’t with them while the group ate, the others seemed to forget their promise to make sure Beth ate her share and he’d caught her once about to give away part of her meager meal to Lori and had stopped her just in time with a glare.  He hadn’t been taking her hunting with him because he’d worried that she’d get hurt, but was starting to rethink that idea.  If they were alone in the woods, he could skin and roast a squirrel or rabbit just for them…he’d never done anything like that, had always shared freely with the whole group, but he was worried about the young woman.  Sure, he was concerned for Lori and her unborn baby, too, but she had Rick and Carl looking after her while Hershel and Maggie basically seemed to let Beth look after herself and take care of others.

 

The rest of that day was quiet and, while Daryl rarely bothered to hunt while the thermometer hovered around freezing since game was so scarce, he went on an off-chance and came across a small doe nibbling at some of the browned grass and weeds in a glade.  His bow had been nocked and ready out of long habit and he sent a bolt through the animal without hesitation, then proceeded to field dress the animal before hauling it back to the old house. Two of the canned chickens had still been good, but would be gone in two meals for so many people.  Still, onions hung in a number of long braids in the basement and there was also a decent pile of red potatoes as well as the canned goods and those added to the meat would help them all.  Daryl butchered the deer with Hershel’s help and Lori, Beth and Carol had roasted some of the meat, made more into stew with some of the vegetables that were still good and cut some of the rest into thin strips and put them in marinade to try and dry in the oven later for jerky.  Carol had found all the supplies to make bread and had made two batches loaves and several dozen biscuits, which were disappearing at a steady rate at meals.

 

Meanwhile, the others were trying to prepare for their next move.  While some stood guard, they’d emptied the SUVs and re-packed them, discarding anything that they didn’t use and washing everything possible, putting generator and water to good use to get items clean.  They’d also hauled all the cans up from the basement to check them and discarded any that had gone bad, before packing a box of food for each vehicle and adding some of the onions and potatoes.  Everyone pitched in to make sure things were as ready as possible, grateful for the respite the weather and house provided.

 

With all the bad luck and problems they’d had, it was incredible for them to get any kind of break and they were definitely enjoying the rest and full stomachs they got during their stay and by the second full day they were all looking more rested and healthier.  There were still things to do, such as checking and cleaning all their weapons as well as patching and mending their clothing and covers, so they were still working, but also everyone rotated through taking naps between working and meals.

 

Instead of allowing Beth to simply work with the other women all the time, Daryl insisted he be allowed to work with her on self-defense and at least learning to properly hold her knife and some moves she could use.  She’d still been self-conscious and shy around him the morning after their talk and he wanted to do something about it since neither Beth nor Carol would tell him exactly what had been said.  He was gratified when, after he’d disarmed her for the seventh time with a smirk designed to make her angry, she’d snapped back at him, hands on her hips and sparks in her eyes.  When he’d laughed, she’d quickly apologized and things had been normal between them ever since.

 

After two days of temperatures hovering around freezing and dipping below that at night, the weather started to warm and they knew their time was growing limited.  They hadn’t been this lucky since the Greene farm had fallen and they’d been forced onto the road, so they all reveled in the break, but were constantly on guard against attack.  The fifth day was much warmer, around forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, and mid-morning T-Dog and Rick spotted a large herd of walkers coming across one of the fields and alerted the others.  Bags were grabbed and everyone moved quickly to their normal vehicles and took off, but as they reached the main road, they quickly discovered that the herd extended across the road as well as through the fields.

 

The drivers turned the vehicles around and headed in the opposite direction.  They made it a few miles down the road before they rounded a curve and unexpectedly came across a smaller, thinner herd spread across the pavement.  Rick and Glenn swerved and tried to avoid as many walkers as possible, so as not to damage the vehicles, while maintaining as much speed as they could.  Beth clung to Daryl like a limpet as he maneuvered through the creatures, but when a thick knot appeared clogging their way he ran off the road and steered through grass and weeds and walkers.  Enough creatures turned, trying to follow the smaller vehicle and two riders, that it cleared the way for the SUVs, separating Daryl and Beth further from the rest of the group.  Daryl checked his mirrors and kept going after making sure the others seemed okay.

 

Stopping only after it seemed safe, Daryl and Beth waited anxiously for the rest of their party to appear, breathing sighs of relief as both SUVs appeared before they ran ahead of the others, scouting the road.  Their respite was over.

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the last chapter that's ready for now. I promise I'll try not to delete the whole thing again!

Beth snuggled closer into Daryl under his poncho and sighed into his chest as he wrapped her tighter in response.  The young woman had experienced another nightmare, which were becoming more frequent the longer they spent on the road and had come over to Daryl as a result.  At the moment he could only see the top of her head and if it wasn’t for the steady puffs against his chest he’d have worried about her suffocating, but she seemed comfortable.  Underneath them was an unzipped sleeping bag with heavy sub-zero lining and there was a blanket over the poncho as well since the hole left them vulnerable to the cold.

 

The hunter sighed thinking about their situation; the weather had been switching between warm and fairly comfortable in the fifties and sixties and then plunging for a few days into the twenties and thirties.  They’d lost almost an entire box of food when T-Dog had been running back to the truck and tripped over a tree root and fallen flat, smashing everything that hadn’t been eaten and T had barely made back inside the cab without being bitten.

 

It had been weeks since the farm by that point.  All their stores of food were gone and when Daryl tentatively ran his hand over Beth’s back under her shirts he could feel all her ribs and each knob on her backbone.  Daryl hadn’t been able to find much game at all, since they’d either been on the run or the weather too cold for him to catch anything much other than a single rabbit and a couple squirrels, but all on different days.  He sighed and tried to let go of the frustration knotting in his chest.

 

Their group had once again been attacked by another group…all men and hunting for not only supplies, but they’d wanted the women as well.  If Daryl and T-Dog hadn’t been returning from gathering wood and been able to help get the drop on the invaders, they would have lost everything.  Beth’s nightmares had gotten worse since that attack and it was becoming more commonplace for her to join him at some point in the night.  Daryl was worried about that too…not only for Beth’s sake since he hated that she was having the nightmares, but he worried for himself.  Hershel had talked to him about it once more, but hadn’t stopped it and Daryl wasn’t sure what he was going to do when the old man decided Beth couldn’t come sleep at his side anymore.  Daryl’s own nightmares went away when she was there, but he’d awakened a couple times wrapped around the young woman from head to toe and being pressed up against her causing both physical and emotional reactions he was fairly sure her father wouldn’t appreciate.

 

The thought of Hershel forbidding him to be with Beth made him subconsciously tighten his hold a little more and the next thing he knew she’d moved one of her arms to reach up and stroke his back and a barely breathed “Are you okay?” let him know he’d awakened the sweet blonde that time.  He grunted softly in response and she breathed “Rick, Carl and Daddy are on watch; come on…sleep.”  With an effort, Daryl pushed aside the thoughts plaguing him and sank into sleep, tightening his arms once more.

 

All of them were grateful for any rest they’d gotten the night before when a group of about ten walkers, several of which were fresh and strong, found them just after dawn.  They’d killed all the creatures without losing anyone, but Lori and Maggie had both had close calls and it was another reminder of how weakened they were and just how badly they needed somewhere secure so they could rest and find some more food.  They’d already tried going back to the house where they’d been on Thanksgiving, but it had been looted and burned in their absence and Daryl had cursed bitterly over the worst aspects of human nature that led some to destroy everything good they encountered.

 

o))O((o

 

 “We’ve got to find somewhere safe,” Rick growled, frustrated as they huddled around a small fire trying to stay warm as they planned their day; nearly a month had passed since Thanksgiving and they were all desperate for another break.  Everyone was looking thin and worn, but he was particularly worried about Lori and the baby.  When she’d been pregnant with Carl, his wife had stayed fairly slender and hadn’t developed the huge bellies some pregnant women did, but she’d still been significantly heavier than she was now.  Whatever was going on between him and Lori at the moment, he was still worried about this unknown child…his child, no matter what.  She needed more food, proteins especially, but anything would be good right now and a steady place to stay would be half that battle.  Although Daryl was by far their best hunter most of them were pretty decent, but with less game moving in the winter having a stable place to stay and other food sources would be a big part of the battle.

 

“Where do you all suggest we go?” Hershel asked.  They’d again put Carl and Beth on watch while the others had a map spread out near the fire they eyed as they talked.  “We go south and we’d have a better chance of finding game, maybe even some fruit and vegetables if we went far enough.  If we go north, we’d have colder weather and slower walkers and could probably find some old orchards…maybe another place where people had a garden and did some canning.”

 

“We need that, but we need something more too,” Rick replied.  “We have to find a place we can make safe and stay long-term.”

 

“Merle and I came this way a while back.  Area used to be pretty high-rent” Daryl contributed, “couple private communities with walls and everything; maybe some are still standing.”

 

“You remember how to get there?”

 

“Yeah” it had been over two years since they’d last been through, but once Daryl had been somewhere, he could almost always find it again.  When nobody had a better suggestion, they’d followed the motorcycle carrying the hunter and Beth to the private subdivisions, only to find both of them with broken walls, looking like they’d been hit by shells or something similar.  The walls were rubble in places, the gates broken off.  Some instinct told Daryl neither was safe yet and he’d stopped and turned around while still more than a hundred yards from either complex.

 

The two SUVs had pulled up on either side of the motorcycle and they’d debated for a moment before Daryl had lead the way down a side road.  After a while they ended up out in the country where there had once obviously been farms and Daryl had tried a couple side roads, since some of the houses along the main road looked as though they were either occupied or had already been raided.  They’d ended up finding a few older houses with some canning that was still good, packing anything they thought they could use and in the late afternoon had finally come across a house that would be suitable for a night or two.  It was well off the road and not only still had an intact fence and gate, they were able to find some brush they could pull across to hide the gate and part of the entry, making it look as unused as possible.  The house had been left closed up, but not locked and someone had left a few canned goods and some containers of dried legumes.  They killed some walkers outside the house, but none had been trapped inside.

 

Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Hershel went out to hunt and run a couple trap lines while T-Dog stayed with the women at the house and helped while they set about gathering supplies from around the house, making some supper and doing laundry.

 

o))O((o

 

Beth cleared the children’s bedrooms and bathroom while Maggie investigated the master bedroom and managed to find some comic books, bags of unopened candy and chips the previous residents had stored under their beds as well as several packs of cigarettes she immediately hid for Daryl and a couple shirts she thought would fit Carl.  After checking in with Maggie she hurried downstairs and dropped off the food in the kitchen and the comics and shirts with Lori since nobody seemed to know exactly where her son was at that moment.  Lori looked up at Beth as the younger woman hesitated to go into the kitchen where Carol was currently making a stew with some of the canned vegetables and broths they’d found; the blonde had been making an effort to be friendly with Carol since the incident at the other house where they’d found such good refuge, but still hesitated to engage her sometimes.

 

“Why don’t you and T see if you can find anything in the garage, sweetie?” Lori asked.  “Maybe they left something we can use out there.”

 

“Okay, sure,” Beth said with relief and went to find T-Dog, who was agreeable to checking outside.

 

Whoever had lived there previously had been a bit of a pack rat and they were able to gather a whole box of items fairly quickly.  T-Dog left to take a box of items to the SUVs, leaving Beth to keep poking through storage bins and cabinets.

 

“What the hell are you doing out here alone?” Daryl’s voice grated behind Beth as she leaned into a cabinet where she’d just found some camping equipment, causing the blonde to jump and bang her head on a shelf.  The next thing she knew, Daryl was next to her and pulling her upright as he checked her head and looked her over for other injuries.  “You okay?” he asked with concern.

 

“I’m fine, Daryl and T-Dog just left to take a box to the vehicles…I haven’t really been out here alone but a minute.”

 

“Lot of bad things can happen in a minute” Daryl said once he was satisfied she was okay, settling near her protectively where he could watch her back while she continued to work.  “Could have been a walker or folks like some of the assholes we’ve come across; you’d be gone and we’d never know what happened.”

 

“You could take me with you when you go hunting,” Beth replied gently, “then you could just have me with you all the time and keep an eye on me yourself.  T-Dog said he needed to run a box over to the SUVs and they’re where he can watch the doors to the garage and I figured he must have thought it was safe enough.”

 

Daryl grunted slightly, “You can’t rely on others to think about your safety before their own, Beth.  T’s not even out with the vehicles right now; I’d have seen him when I came over here.”  He was chewing over her suggestion, though and added, “Your dad and I ran a trap line and you can come with me and check it over in the morning.”

 

Beth grinned at him, giving a little jump and hugging him briefly, “Maggie’s going to be jealous!  She always used to try to get Daddy to show her all that stuff, especially for Girl Scouts.”  The hunter rested his hands on her waist and grinned down at her for a moment without saying anything until Beth flushed and giggled and said, “What?”

 

“Just picturing you in a little green uniform selling cookies” he teased “even Merle couldn’t resist those little gap toothed girls in their pigtails.”

 

“How about you?” Beth asked with a giggle.

 

“I have a heart of stone, don’t you know?” Daryl responded with a grin.  “Only reason I bought anything was because I have a sweet tooth.”

 

o))O((o

 

Lori rubbed her distended belly absently as she looked out the window, watching Daryl and Beth sitting on the tailgate of an old, broken-down truck sitting in the yard, talking and teasing each other, obviously enjoying their time together.  Daryl was showing her something with a length of rope and Beth was trying to do whatever he was doing as they continued to talk.

 

She and Carol have been working on supper together and Lori can’t be around the older woman any more without hearing some of the things she’d said to Beth while they were back in the other house; all she knew for sure is that it somehow centered around the hunter.  It had started after Beth had brought in a pan with a pumpkin in it that she, apparently with some help from Daryl, had cut up and peeled.  As the young blonde was rinsing off the pieces Carol had said something that had sounded almost teasing about Daryl cutting his hand while helping cut up the pumpkin and how well Beth had patched him up, but Lori had caught an edge to the gray-haired woman’s voice that had made her listen more closely.

 

When Beth had started to respond, Carol had cut her off and said something about Beth always trying to find some excuse to hold Daryl’s hand or any other body part to which she could get close enough, even though Daryl obviously didn’t like to be touched, while Beth’s face had flamed red.  The teasing tone was gone from the other woman’s voice and it rang with resentment and something else Lori couldn’t identify.  When Carol had said Daryl would leave as soon as Beth gave him what she obviously wanted to give him, Lori had stepped in to the kitchen and sent Beth back out while the brunette had rounded on the other woman and gotten right in her face to tell her off for saying such things to the sweet blonde.  She’d never talked to the others about what had happened and had been deeply relieved when she’d seen Daryl and Beth had worked through Beth’s resulting awkwardness.

 

While it had taken her a couple times to really pick up on things, she’d noticed how close the young blonde and the redneck had gotten and everyone was aware by now of Beth’s nightmares and her tendency to go to Daryl when they got too bad.  They’d been riding together on Daryl’s motorcycle almost every day for months, even when it was so cold they wouldn’t normally have been riding anymore.  As far as Lori could tell, nothing inappropriate was happening and she knew for a fact that everyone was watching the pair closely.  She found the pairing odd just because Beth looked so delicate while Daryl looked so rough, but they worked well together and Beth could coax smiles from the hunter even on days nobody else could do so.  One thing she’d found both surprising and endearing was that instead of Beth pursuing Daryl as Carol had implied, the roles were reversed.  Other than times Beth went to him because of her nightmares or because she needed something, Daryl seemed to always be the one hunting for Beth or telling her to come do something.  On multiple occasions Lori had seen the hunter pull things out of his pocket for Beth and how he would sometimes hand her things with his back to the group so that they couldn’t see what it was and Beth would often slip whatever it was into her pack or a pocket.

 

It reminded Lori of nothing more than the penguins in a movie Carl used to love.  When a male penguin found his mate, he would pick out whatever he thought was the perfect stone and present it to the female of his choice and she would either accept it or not.  So far, the little blonde had accepted everything the rough, shaggy-haired man had offered her with a blush and a little smile or, sometimes, a hug.  Lori was just waiting for the day when it seemed those two would recognize what it was that was going on between them and come to some understanding.

 

Her thoughts had her looking back over her shoulder at Carol with a thoughtful expression on her face just as the older woman looked up and caught her.

 

“Something on your mind, Bunkie?”

 

 _Now or never_ Lori thought before she took a deep breath and drove in, “I feel like I’m missing something.  As far as I can tell, you don’t seem interested in Daryl romantically, so I was wondering why you were trying to break them up at Thanksgiving.  It’s not really any of my business, but I’m curious.”

 

“’Break up’ implies that they’re together and they aren’t, not in that way,” Carol said dismissively, looking back down as she stirred the stew after glancing over Lori’s shoulder at the couple on the pick-up.

 

Lori glanced out and saw that Beth seemed to have mastered whatever Daryl had been showing her, judging by the little seated dance she was doing until the hunter smirked at her and did something new that the young woman now tried to emulate.  “You know what I mean…come on, tell me.”  When Carol didn’t reply immediately, the brunette tried something different, “Will you at least tell me if it’s because you’re interested in Daryl romantically?”

 

They gray-haired woman scoffed, “No matter how he looks on the outside, he’s just a kid on the inside…no, I’m not interested in him that way.  Still, he is a survivor and he’ll make sure anyone with him will survive as well.”

 

Turning the rest of the way around to eye the older woman, Lori exclaimed, “So that’s it?  You want him to only protect you the next time something bad happens?  You don’t seem to have any problems protecting yourself.”

 

“Rick has you and Carl as his priorities, both Hershel and Glenn focus on Maggie and Daryl and T-Dog try to protect everyone, especially Beth.  I have to fend for myself.”

 

“That’s not true, Carol and you know it!  Daryl backs up Rick all the time and it’s usually Carl and Beth with me and everyone else together, not Rick hovering over Carl and I or Daryl constantly with Beth – we all protect each other.  Besides, even if you broke them up, Daryl wouldn’t just become your personal body guard, you’d still be with the group and it would be the same thing.”

 

The older woman sighed in response, “Why are you harping on this?  I already promised I wouldn’t tease Beth again.”

 

“That was not teasing, Carol, that was emotionally manipulative and bullying and your resentment really came through and made Beth worry about things she hadn’t even been thinking about.”

 

“Well, maybe they should be thanking me, then, if I got them thinking about what they’re doing and where it’s going” Carol replied with another stir of the pot.

 

“Nobody should thank someone else for that kind of thing…just remember your promise to not do it again” Lori said with a warning look.  Their argument that day had been intense…Lori had felt fiercely protective of Beth since the young woman’s collapse on the farm and she’d felt a little like an angry mama bear in response to the things she’d heard Carol saying to the little blonde.  Her eyes wandered back to the couple on the tailgate of the pickup as she gave a little sigh.  There was still something the older woman wasn’t admitting and Lori had a feeling it had nothing to do with jealousy or worry over their local redneck.

 

“I never forget anything.”

 

Something in Carol’s tone made Lori look at her sharply, but the gray-haired woman merely glanced at her before she brushed off her hands, “Let’s finish looking through this kitchen to see what else we can find.”

 

o))O((o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It always bothered me that on the TV show the group never made a contingency plan in case they lost each other. Of all the things they could have done, they never set up signals, never looked for radios that would work, but at least in here they've got some signals. I hope you like it!

They decided to stay in the house as long as possible because even though there wasn’t as much food as they’d hoped and hunting wasn’t very good, they needed the rest almost as much.  For over a week the house was their refuge, most of the group bedding down at night in the living room for warmth - all of them except Maggie and Glenn who’d gone looking for some more privacy - and whoever was on watch.  One night when Beth bolted from sleep after yet another nightmare it was to find Carol bedded down so close to Daryl that she couldn’t approach the hunter, even though she could tell they weren’t touching.  The young blonde sat next to Lori for a moment, unable to help the shaking as the adrenaline and fear processed through her system.

 

She’d had some nightmares since getting home from school to her dad’s announcement that her mama and Shawn were both infected and had to be taken out to the barn.  Even though she hadn’t seen them again until the day Rick’s group had opened the doors, she’d seen some of the other walkers that her dad or Otis had brought to the barn and in her dreams she’d seen her loved ones shriveled, bloody and growling.  That had been bad enough, but the problems they’d had on the road, the things that could happen had just added to the problem and she’d have nightmares with combinations of walkers and people doing unspeakable things to her while she was helpless to stop them.  The bits of training she’d done with Daryl had helped a little and she could only hope that one day they’d find a place where she could get even more because she truly believed it would help.

 

She glanced around the room to see who was there and accounted for everyone except Maggie, Glenn and Rick, who had to be the one on guard duty.  No way was she seeking out Maggie and Glenn and Rick seemed pretty unapproachable most of the time these days, but she could tell falling back asleep next to Lori was going to be impossible just then.  It wasn’t that she minded sleeping next to Lori and the tall brunette had proven herself to be both determined and seemingly fearless in the face of all their trials, but she was also most concerned with the small life she carried inside of her and her son, even though the young man was still angry and confused with both his parents over everything that had happened in their family.  Beth sighed silently and glanced again at her dad, sound asleep on the sofa, before she quietly arose, made sure the blankets were still tucked warmly around Lori and headed to the kitchen.  They’d filled the kettle and put it on the back of the wood-burning stove that took up a corner of the long kitchen to stay warm and found some packets of teas, including some herbal ones when they’d searched the pantry and Beth was hoping a warm drink would help her relax.

 

Rick was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, sipping from a mug while keeping watch through the windows and turned his eyes to her as she entered.  The house had front and back doors and the kitchen spanned from front to back, offering views in several directions and they’d been using it as their main lookout.    Of course, they could have used another pair of eyes on watch, but as tired as everyone was, they were making do in the frigid weather due to the smaller risk from walkers.  The group’s leader flicked his eyes back over the windows and then back to Beth before he nodded with a quiet, “Another nightmare?”

 

Beth gave a small, embarrassed grin in response and moved past him to get to the mugs and teas and made a mug of tea with some chamomile/mint tea bags before moving back toward Rick.  “I’m just going to go take a look around the other side of the house” she said softly before moving away again.  She tiptoed lightly through the living room and to the far side of the house where she could look through the windows and had moved to the last set when she saw some movement behind her reflected in the glass and turned quickly only to bump into Daryl, who had come up silently behind her.

 

Her little gasp was softened by his fingers lightly over her lips before he pulled them back and looked down at her, “Nightmare?” he asked quietly.  At her nod he added, “You okay?”

 

She nodded again before adding, “Thought I’d just get up and do a quick walk-through for Rick…it looks quiet, at least so far.”  The hunter was close enough that she leaned into his chest for a moment with a little sigh as one of his arms comes up and settles around her waist, “Maybe I should just volunteer to keep watch for him for now.  He looks tired.”

 

“I’ll stay up with you if you want to, but you should sleep if you can.”

 

“I just don’t know if I can go to sleep again, or even if I want to and maybe some sleep would help Rick relax a little.”

 

Daryl managed a quiet snort, “Rick’s not going to relax until he feels we’re all safe somewhere, so you may as well try to rest.”

 

“May I lie down near you?” Beth asked hopefully.

 

“Yeah, there’s a space where we’d fit against the far wall.  Come on, let’s take a last look around and go back to report to Rick.”

 

They were just turning away from the window when something caught at the corner of Beth’s vision and she turned back toward it.  The part of the house they’re in is so dark there’s more light from the moon and stars outside, giving her a decent view, “Daryl, I think there are people out there!”

 

“What?  Where?”

 

“Do you see the gardening shed off to one end of the garden and the roll in the land beyond that?  Before you get to the fence and those trees?  I saw movement…I’m sure it’s a man, maybe more than one.”

 

After a beat the hunter said, “I see them; go tell Rick and get the others up quietly.  I’ll keep watch from out here.  Tell Carol and your dad to go watch the front of the house and when you tell Glenn and Maggie, tell them to check the windows upstairs and stay up there.  It could be bad if we’re separated, but it could be worse if we’re all together and they come in…we may need someone who can get the drop on them.”

 

Beth nodded and went off to do as instructed.  Rick instantly moved to check the windows and Beth sent Carl and Lori to join him as she hurried back through the living room to let the rest of them know and headed upstairs to tell Maggie and Glenn.  There were a couple windows that led out onto the roof of the front porch they could use to escape if needed and Beth made sure they knew before heading back downstairs to rejoin Daryl. 

 

“Almost fifteen of them” the hunter growled quietly as she rejoined him, “you keep watch through that window and if we have to go you stay with me unless I tell you otherwise.”  He checked to see that she has their bags ready, backpack on and the saddlebags for the motorcycle slung over a thin shoulder, but he still frowned before turning his eyes back to the windows, “We’ve got to get you a gun.”  His bow was up over his shoulder at that point and his rifle in his hands.  If another group had already found them, staying quiet was a moot point.  As far as Daryl was concerned, if there were already walkers nearby, that group wouldn’t be hanging about.

 

“I have my knife,” Beth replied.

 

“Girl, anyone gets close enough you can use your knife, you’re too close to them.”  He pulled her close suddenly and brought her face up so that their eyes met and he looked into hers intently, “Anyone gets that close to you, you do _anything_ you can to kill them, you hear me?”

 

Her mouth was suddenly so dry she could barely talk, but she managed a nod and whispered “I promise, Daryl.”

 

When the attack came it came in a rush, the people running at them from outside silent until the first shots sounded from the kitchen, then it seemed like everyone was shooting and shouting or screaming.  Beth didn’t think any of the screaming was coming from inside, but she couldn’t tell.  Rick’s sharp whistle signaling ‘get out’ sounded from the kitchen and Daryl’s response from beside her is followed by Glenn’s from upstairs.  Daryl turned to leave, motioning for Beth to follow behind him and she put a hand on his back and followed right behind.  Daryl shot another man as they went out the front door behind Hershel and Carol and Carol took out another one with her semi-automatic handgun.  Maggie and Glenn dropped down close to them and took up the lead position. Beth and Daryl stayed a few steps behind taking the rear guard, but only one more assailant came around the corner of the house and they went down quickly at a blast from Daryl’s rifle.

 

Once they were around the house when they spotted, a large herd of walkers coming from the nearby woods.  They were slow - just barely moving - but coming for the house, the noise and bodies drawing them in inexorably.  The group that attacked them might have done something to draw them in or it could have just been the bad luck that seemed to plague their steps holding firm.  Daryl kept his rifle ready, but the others had already broken into runs going for their vehicles, so he growled for Beth to run and they headed for the motorcycle.  The SUVs went ahead of them, but the bike wobbled for a moment as they ran into a pothole that Daryl had avoided in the light and he paused to give them both a chance to steady themselves and for Beth to get a better hold on him.

 

They weren’t far behind the SUVs, but as they headed after the others, the headlight caught a branch of the herd spanning across the road, the path the SUVs had made littered with bodies and the gap closing so that Daryl couldn’t make it across without risking their safety.  He turned off the road, going to the right, away from the main body of the herd, but was stopped by a fence and ended up turning around and away.  Eyeing the herd and its steady approach, he gave in and took them in the opposite direction, Beth’s arms tightening around his waist in her anxiety, but still leaning into him, trusting him to make the best decisions.

 

The rest of the night was spent riding or hiding while trying to rejoin the others, finding what seems to be a parallel road to the one they’d been on, but not being able to make it back to the same one without being able to see.  Dawn was breaking when Daryl spotted a permanent hunting stand in the woods, barely visible even with most leaves down because of the pine trees between it and the road.  He went off road again to get them over to it, before walking the bike the last couple hundred yards to try not to attract walkers and climbed the ladder, leaving Beth on the ground.  Opening the trap door to check for occupants, he found it empty except for an old glass bottle and reasonably clean.  He went back down the ladder in a flash, helped Beth work the bike in to a less noticeable position behind the trees around the stand, covered it with an old army tarp and added some brush around it to disguise it further.

 

The stand wasn’t bad – there was a wide bench along one wall of the stand and Daryl looked at it more closely before he flipped up the seat, revealing some canned food, a small burner with a propane canister, some utensils, a can opener, even a sleeping bag in a clear plastic bag and a couple gallons of distilled water.

 

After a stunned moment they both pull out cans of food and find one each of baked beans, canned enchiladas, stew and a couple types of pasta in sauce and Beth barely held back a squeal of excitement, especially when she spied a tin container and pulled it out to find an unopened pack of saltines.  Daryl shook his head when she did a little dance of excitement, but gave a small tilt of his lips.

 

“Shit, this is more food than we found in that whole house,” Daryl exaggerated with a shake of his head.  “I’m gonna go get the saddlebags, you stay up here.”

 

“What about finding the others?”

 

“Can’t just keep riding around not knowing where we’re going; besides, we’re both about to fall asleep and that’s bad enough if you’re driving a car, it’s worse when you’re on a bike.”

 

He was down and back in a moment, checking carefully through the openings for any signs of life.  Even though the stand was up off the ground and seemed reasonably safe from walkers, with only one way in or out it was a terrible choice when it came to other humans.  The attack earlier that morning added to the others had only reaffirmed that the living were as dangerous and vicious as the dead, if not more so, and the group that had attacked them could easily be part of a larger one.

 

Beth was yawning again when turned back to her, the excitement of finding the supplies obviously once more taking a back seat to the exhaustion weighing down her body.  With a sigh, he brought the latch on the door down over the loop attached to the floor and slid a large nail attached to a wire through the loop to hold the door closed.  Beth had pulled out the sleeping bag and they also had Daryl’s poncho and a thin quilt kept in one of the saddle bags and Daryl helped her spread everything out before they both climbed in.

 

Daryl’s internal debate about whether or not to stay awake and keep watch while Beth slept became moot when she snuggled in to his side and he fell asleep almost as soon as her head landed on his shoulder.

 

When he woke up it was with a jolt and he had a moment of disorientation, except for the stabilizing feel of the slight body against his.  It had been dawn when they’d found the hunting stand and there was still only a slight light trickling in through the open slats in the stand, but it only took him a moment looking at the angle of the light to see that they’d slept all day.  They’d shifted in their sleep and he was spooned up tightly behind Beth, one arm under her head and the other wrapped around her torso.

 

Disentangling himself, he shifted onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, hoping like hell that the others would have the sense to either try to stay in the area or leave them some kind of sign about where they’d gone.  The most logical idea he had was to go back and find that house again and start over.  Beth made a small, lost noise that instantly tugged at something in his chest, but before he could do anything, she inhaled sharply and sat up, looking around frantically until her eyes landed on him.

 

“Hey” she said softly.

 

“Hey yourself,” he replied, sitting up next to her with a small groan.

 

“We slept all day?” she asked, pulling the tie out of her ponytail, which had migrated to one side of her head and from which nearly half her hair had escaped before she pulled a brush from her pack to work some of the knots out.

 

He grunted an affirmative and heard “Do you think we’re going to find them again?”

 

Picking up on the tremor in her voice he reached out to stop her hand from tugging the brush roughly through her hair and pulled the handle away from her, “If they can, they’ll still be in the area.  We’ll go back to the house in the morning and look for them.  Gonna be dark too soon now, you know how it is this time of year.”

 

With a reluctant nod of agreement, she held her hand out for the brush again, which he handed back only after making her promise to stop trying to make herself bald with it.  She finished brushing carefully through the tangled curls before smoothing it back into a neater ponytail.

 

After a careful check, they went back down the ladder to relieve themselves and stretch their legs for a few moments.  There wasn’t a hint of movement anywhere, but Daryl sent Beth back up the ladder quickly anyway after he checked out the bike to make sure nothing appeared to have been touched.  By the time he got back in the stand, Beth had set up the little burner and pulled out one of the cans of beans and started to open it.

 

“Open a can of the stew too,” Daryl instructed.  When she looked like she was going to object he added, “We can take some of the food for the others, but let’s eat what we can since we don’t know when we’ll have to run for it or when we’ll find them.”  He didn’t add that he was still worried about Beth’s weight or the fact that she didn’t seem to have put any on even on the rare occasions when the group had enough to eat.

 

When the food was hot, they shared it while talking softly.  They didn’t spend much of the time they had together just talking; one of them was always trying to show the other something or they were practice-fighting or something…normally it was enjoyable, but they also had their arguments and frustrations so just relaxing and chatting was nice, even if they had to be careful to keep their voices down.  Conversation ceased when they heard vehicles going past, but when Beth moved as though she was going to jump up, Daryl held up a hand and shook his head at her.  When she looked at him curiously he held up a finger at first, then five fingers.

 

 _“Five?”_ Beth mouthed at him and he nodded.  They both held their breath and Daryl tensed when it sounded as though a couple of the vehicles slowed down, but then they all go past.

 

“Grab your shit,” Daryl said, pushing her up.  The empty cans were put in a corner, the burner was already off and stowed and the saddlebags and Beth’s backpack had already been loaded with what they could hold.  She grabbed the backpack and saddlebags obediently, but looked at him with a question in her eyes.  “I think they saw something looks different,” Daryl whispered. “They may have gone past now, but I have a feeling they’ll be back, at least after full dark if not sooner.”

 

There was no help for it, they had to get going, even with dark coming on if another group had spotted them.  Daryl used his unfailing sense of direction to turn them in the direction of the road the others had taken from the house and they trudged through the woods, walking the bike, leaving the pile of brush behind them in hopes that if someone came back to check the stand it will look the same at a distance.  They made it over five hundred yards into the woods before Daryl held up a finger and they both paused to listen.  The engine noise was incredibly faint, more a vibration in the air than anything audible, but it was definitely there.  Doubling their pace, they’d almost made it to to the road they need before hearing some of the engine noise stop and flung themselves over the seat of the bike to take off with a roar, though the bike’s engine doesn’t quite cover the voices yelling far back in the woods.

 

Daryl couldn’t help but reach down and grab Beth’s hands, firmly linked around his waist and feel her fingers twitch against his in response.   The relief he felt knowing she was safe behind him was indescribable.  He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost her, though he sure as hell knows it would never include trying to find Hershel and Maggie and having to watch their faces as he told them what happened.  Better to let them picture her out here somewhere alive and well than to end all hope.

 

A few hours of riding and ducking groups of walkers brought them to a small white house set back off the road and they watch for signs of movement before approaching it.  The house was tiny and they have to kill a few walkers outside before heading in, then two more almost as soon as they enter who appear to have been a younger couple.  After sweeping the house, they settled in a back room with a window that was partially boarded up, dragging cushions from the furniture to make a pallet before settling down for a few hours of sleep.  Beth took first watch, sitting next to Daryl with her legs crossed, unconsciously moving her hand to rest in his hair and stroke it gently after he moved to curl around her, nuzzling his face into her hip.  She’d long ago ceased feeling uncomfortable when he did things like that or when she woke up to one of them wrapped around the other, but that night she felt a welling of affection that she hadn’t before and it almost took her breath away as she looked down at him for a beat before moving her eyes back to the cracks between the slats over the window.

 

After Daryl had taken a watch and they’ve eaten some breakfast, they headed out again, keeping an eye out for any sign of the others.  It had only about thirty minutes when they spotted the first one...it was subtle, a simple crossing of sticks in a pattern Daryl had shown the others just in case, but it lets him know they went that way.  They followed that direction and found two more, the second one turning them down a cross-street, only to not find any further sign.  Turning and going back the other way eventually lead them to another marker, then nothing they can find, until a second pass reveals a pile of sticks that seems to be a destroyed marker, but they can’t spot any shelter nearby; still, at least they had some direction.  Another hour passed before they spied a smallish subdivision and checked it out, spotting the SUVs pulled off on an unremarkable side street.  The sound of the motorcycle brought the others out with looks of relief, Hershel and Maggie pulled Beth aside to hug her as Rick and Carol hurried to welcome Daryl, who watched Hershel draw Beth off to the side with a firm expression as Maggie followed on their heels.  He felt a little guilty about not going and stepping in, but there’s no way he was going to get between them at this point; besides, he knew Beth well enough by then to know she could handle her father without his help…even better without his help, in fact.

 

They worked throughout the day to clear as many of the houses as they can, but before the light started to fade they moved out of the subdivision and ended up in a single-story brick house set off another silent road.

 

Daryl was awake on watch, having taken over for Rick when he felt Beth settle down next to him and nudged her without looking.  “What was it this time, more walkers?”

 

“Not a nightmare this time,” she replied, leaning into him and slipping a soft bundle into his hands, “Merry Christmas.”

 

He stopped looking out the windows for a moment to look back at her, “Never got a Christmas present before…well, except from Merle.”  He certainly wasn’t going to tell her what it was either…it wasn’t a story of which he was particularly proud.

 

“Then I hope you really like it” she whispered to him, “especially since I made it for you.”

 

When he unwrapped it, he found a sweater knitted from a thin, fine yarn that he can layer under his shirts…she’d even made an open neck and added a few buttons so that he could wear it open or closed.  “Thanks…it’s real nice…don’t have anything for you though,” he mumbled.

 

She leaned in to give him a squeeze before standing up and heading back to her blankets, “It doesn’t matter as long as you like it.  Christmas is more about giving anyway.”

 

“What if I hadn’t liked it?” he teased, just to keep her there a moment longer.

 

“I haven’t given anyone else their presents yet, so I’d have let you keep opening until you found one you liked, but I made that for you because I really thought you’d like it.”  She looked into his eyes for a moment, “You really do, too, don’t you?”

 

“Mmm-hmmm…I love it” he said softly, surprised to see her cheeks flush pink before she gave him a little smile and headed back to bed.

 

**o))O((o**

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything about The Walking Dead or any books, songs, TV shows or products mentioned in here and am gaining no profit from anything. To the best of my knowledge, this isn't a copy of anyone else's work or ideas beyond the obvious things from TWD, but is my original work.


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